Night World: Book Four (My Take)
by TheJoJoker
Summary: Okay, so it's no secret L.J. Smith has not published book four to our beloved Night World Series, so I am writing one up, and I apologize if it isn't exactly the same as the other books, but I will most certainly try my best, it will have many of the same characters, and new soul mates, so I hope you enjoy! Disclaimer I do not own the Night World series
1. Old Soul

Night World: Book four (my take): Story one: Old Souls

Chapter One:

Kestrel sat up in a cold sweat, her heart beating quickly, and her mind unfocused. _What's wrong with you? Focus, don't you know waking up like this is dangerous? Hasn't it been drilled in your mind since birth that waking up alert and ready could be the difference between life and death for you? _And _isn't it your natural instinct? _She mentally chastised herself, how could she wake up fuzzy? Vampires couldn't get sick, so why was her built in alert system failing her tonight of all night? The first night she had ever spent in Thierry's mansion. Everyone said Thierry's mansion was just about the safest place on earth right now, but Kestrel had doubts. There were plenty of night people here, all circle daybreak, or so they say, anyone could be a spy, waiting for their chance to pounce, or to run and get back up and help them in, to slaughter all the residents here in their sleep. Yes, to Kestrel it was one big slaughter house.

Kestrel took a breath, maybe she just needed blood. _Yes, blood, a late night hunt in the moon light, fresh air, and something to kill. Perfect. _She thought to herself with a grim smile. She looked at the clock, just past two a.m. _I can be gone and back before anyone even woke, heck, I don't even have to change out of my night gown, no one to stop me_. She thought happily as she got out of bed and stretched like a big fierce cat before walking over to her door, she was just about to open it when she heard uneven foot steps from the other side. She stopped dead, she even stopped breathing, and her heart pounded so hard she was sure whoever was out in the hallway could hear it.

Kestrel slowly reached over to her vanity, opened the drawer as quietly as she could, and grabbed the silver dagger she had hidden inside it. Maybe she was being paranoid, but just at that moment she didn't care, her senses were corrupt and she was in a new place, in the middle of the night with a bunch of strangers and didn't trust a one of them, especially ones who lurked at night when she couldn't focus. Kestrel opened the door of her room just in time to see a shadow of a figure retreat up the stairs to the third floor. Kestrel took a deep breath and followed the figure, which had already managed to get up the stairs and was heading down the dim lighted hallway.

Kestrel followed it and just as she was about to jump the figure turned and stared at her with wide eyes, but they only widened slightly and left as soon as they came. It was a boy about her age, with light blond hair, pale skin, and grey eyes that seemed to know things that no seventeen year old boy could ever know. She hesitated to stare at him, calling him beautiful was an understatement, but that hesitation was enough for him to completely plot out her next actions so when she swung the dagger at him he easily caught her wrist and grabbed her arm.

"Who are you?" Kestrel demanded, her face fierce and her eyes narrowed as she was already trying to regain her senses, and to her dismay, she realized he was human. _He wouldn't happen to have an enemy in his pocket would he? _Kestrel almost rolled her eyes at her own thoughts.

"I think under the circumstances, the question would be who are _you? _considering you _are _the one caught right now." The boy said with a voice that made Kestrel wonder if angels were real, because if they were, she was sure they would have voices like his. Kestrel glared, she didn't like being in this position and when she spoke it was in a grudging way.

"Kestrel Redfern. Now, let me go and answer." She said with a slight taint in her voice that made it sound more like '_let me go and drop dead' _

The boy smiled warmly though he had clearly heard her tone. He let her go and Kestrel moodily straightened the sleeves of her night gown, the boy stared at her, and didn't even seem to attempt to hide his stare, and for some reason this made Kestrel even angrier then she already was that she had mistaken a _human _for the enemy.

"My names Hugh, I'm an old soul, I just got back from a mission for Circle Daybreak, I'm also good friends with your cousin Jez, but that's off subject, what are you doing up so late trying to stab people for?" Hugh asked and Kestrel shuffled her feet then crossed her arms with narrowed eyes.

"I woke up, I was going hunting, and I thought you were the enemy" she said stiffly now looking down at her feet while she pulled her sleeves over her hands nervously, feeling somewhat self conscious which she found odd since she had never cared about what she looked like or what she wore. She knew she should explain why she couldn't tell he was a human, and why she was going hunting in the middle of the night in her night gown, but she couldn't bring herself to embarrass herself even more by adding the fact that her powers were acting sketchy, though by some miracle, he did not ask.

"Hey don't hide from me" Hugh said in a good natured way, then gently grabbed her wrists and started pulling the sleeves back from her hands. His fingers just barley grazed her hands, but it was enough to send sparks flying through her entire body, and strong emotions that felt like she had been hit in the head with a giant wooden club. Kestrel jumped back glaring and her anger flared while she got into a defensive position. _He shocked me! _she thought outraged.

"What did you do to me?!" she yelled ready to knock him down, but something inside her refused to harm this random boy, though that only infuriated her more, he was just some guy who happened to come home the same night her senses went on the fritz, when any other boy ever startled her she had never had a problem knocking them flat.

"I didn't do anything. You need to take a deep breath, lets go downstairs, and we can calmly handle this." Hugh tried to say but Kestrel didn't want to listen to anything he had to say, especially when she looked into his grey eyes and saw that he had a pretty good guess of what happened. Just when Kestrel was getting ready to demand what he knew and she didn't, the room door they had been standing in front of opened. Ash stood there with a bad case of bed head, in his blue pajama bottoms, but he looked alert.

"What's going on out here?" Ash said, his eyes darting back and forth between Kestrel and Hugh.

"He shocked me! And I don't know how!" Kestrel exclaimed, giving Hugh her best glare, unfortunately he missed it because he was now looking at Ash, and Ash was looking back, Hugh's face was serious with his eyebrows drawn together, and Ash's had a smirk on it that made me want to slap him.

"go to bed Kestrel, deal with this in the morning, your not gonna figure anything out by shouting like that other then some of the people on this floor have a mean swing." Ash said with a light tone in his voice and just like that he was back in his room. Kestrel and Hugh turned back to each other and Hugh looked as though he wanted to say something but before he could Kestrel turned on her heel and ran as fast as she could to the doors to the balcony, she stepped out onto the balcony, and jumped to the ground, landing on her feet, but the three story fall was steep so she ended up falling forward and landing on her chest and knocking the wind out of her. She rolled on her back and looked up seeing Hugh had followed her, but stopped at the balcony, and was looking down at her with pure concern etched all over his face. Kestrel sucked in a deep breath and stood up already recovering. She re-adjusted her night gown and ran into the woods, though she could still feel Hugh's eyes on her.

She ran and ran and ran until she was deep in the heart of the woods and then she scaled a tree and waited. She saw squirrels, and possums, and rabbits, even a few raccoons, but Kestrel was determined to land a deer. It was almost an hour before one finally wandered in her path. She licked her lips, her jaw ached from the anticipation of fresh blood that drew her fangs out, and she was in a position to pounce like a feline about to attack. She jumped on top of the deer and it collapsed under her, she dug her fangs into the deer's neck and sucked the warm rich liquid. _How could humans not crave this taste? It was so much sweeter then any desert they had ever created_. Kestrel thought to herself then she stood and looked down at her white night gown, it was torn over one of the legs and covered with dirt and drops of blood, she could feel her golden waves had become tangled, and her mouth would need scrubbing to get the blood off, but she didn't care. Kestrel felt alive. More alive then she ever had.

She looked up at the moon and closed her eyes, stepping into it's light, she felt an odd sort of bliss in doing this, as though she was the only creature on the earth that could feel the moonlight. She didn't want this to end, but when she heard a loud crunch of leaves she whipped around and scanned the tree's but saw nothing, she felt a chill run down her spine so Kestrel got in a defensive crouch looking all around her. "Who's there?!" Kestrel yelled but all was silent. Kestrel stood there, her earlier bliss gone without a trace, though finally she grew patient and started running back to the mansion, a shock of adrenalin clinging to her with every step.

Hugh watched Kestrel run into the woods. He ran a hand through his hair once she was gone. She was so beautiful, is beautiful, her Golden waves of hair and golden eyes, though he could so clearly tell Kestrel wanted to slap him for giving her those shocks, he couldn't help but read behind those eyes, she was fierce and could come off as somewhat malicious, and she was strong, not just physically, Hugh already knew that emotionally she was even stronger, and even when things have hit rock bottom for her, she never cracked up once, nothing had ever broken Kestrel Redfern. And yet still, there was something behind those eyes that Hugh couldn't pin point, something that he was desperate to find out about her.

_I love her. _

That was Hugh's first thought about her when they had touched, and then he realized why, she was his soul mate, only, Kestrel didn't know it.

Hugh walked back down the hallway, and went into his room, but he didn't sleep. He was to busy thinking, he wasn't sure if he should tell Kestrel or not, if he told her she could get angry, she might not like that fate has decided for her who to love, or maybe it will all be to much for her and she'll leave, _I would rather watch her be with some other nice guy right in front of me then never have her, but if I don't tell her, and let her find out on her own, she will come to love me on her own, she'll get to know me, and maybe she will accept it once she does find out…yes. I want Kestrel to love me because she loves me alone, not because some force makes her. _Hugh thought and then looked out his window and up at the moon, he had always found comfort in looking at it, he always knew that even if you couldn't see it, it was still there, a constant variable, the only thing he had ever grown attached to.

Old souls couldn't attach themselves to anyone or anything, they had seen enough of the world to know better, even if they did find someone or something that stayed till their own death, they knew that in their next life that object or person would be gone, and they would be without it.

It wasn't like that with the moon, every time he shut his eyes to sleep and woke up, it was there, every time he had doubts, it was there, and every time he died and came back, it was there, and he loved it for that.

Hugh kept staring at the moon, but after awhile he suddenly felt alert, and ready for a fight, he didn't know how he knew, but he knew something was out in the woods, and he felt adrenalin pumping through him. _That's weird…I've never felt a need to fight or run before, not unless it was to protect someone…Kestrel. _

It came to him with a feeling of dread and fury that was also knew to him, why would someone want to hurt Kestrel? He questioned as he was running down each floor to get outside to Kestrel, she said she was going hunting, what if she was already in trouble? With that Hugh ran faster than he ever had, his limp leg making him frustrated do to how much it was slowing him down.

Hugh burst through the mansion door, and started towards the woods, but before he was even halfway to it he saw a glimpse of white and gold coloring coming towards him and before he knew it he was on the ground with the wind knocked out of him.

Kestrel was on the ground sitting up and looking around somewhat confused _what did I hit? _she asked herself then her a groan from beside her and glanced over. Hugh. She felt like she couldn't breath, her heart was pounding, and for the first time in her life she was afraid of something other than Ash, but she wasn't sure why, it was only Hugh she tried to tell herself, but a bigger part of her was petrified that he was hurt, that _she_ had hurt him.

"H-Hugh?" she stuttered leaning over him, stroking the blond hair from his eyes. "Please be okay Hugh, are you okay? Do you need a witch? I can get a witch. Your not going to die right? Please, please, please don't die. What about a concussion? Did you hit your head?!" she asked all in a rush, ignoring the electric shocks that went through her, finding that they felt somewhat pleasant, though she didn't think about it at the time.

"Kestrel, I'm fine…" Hugh said in a groggy voice then took a deep breath and started sitting up. Kestrel let him, it wasn't her job to make sure he's okay to sit up, he was just some random guy…some random guy with soft hair and dreamy eyes and a voice like an angels that gave her pleasant electric shocks every time they touched, and made her feel like they had known each other forever…yah…just some random guy….

Kestrel started pulling her hand away from his hair when he began sitting up, but Hugh caught her hand and kept it there for a moment longer then gently lowered it to the space in-between them, but didn't let her go. Kestrel almost smiled at the shocks running through her body, but they felt so good she refused to let her own hand move. Kestrel looked up at Hugh and he stared into her eyes as though he was reading her soul, which made Kestrel feel exposed and she instantly started putting walls around her mind.

'_No, don't put up walls, you don't need to hide from me.' _it took Kestrel a moment to realize that the thought was not her own, it sounded like Hugh, only not like Hugh at the same time, it was Hugh's thoughts, he was in my mind. Kestrel started panicking.

'_Go away! I don't want you here, I don't want to share my mind with anyone but me! Get out! This is private!' _She thought back to him and started pulling her hand away to get away from him. He let her, and just like that, their connection was severed.

Kestrel sat staring at Hugh for a moment, his eyes looked sad and desperate, but also calm and understanding. Kestrel scrambled away from him and then stood up and ran into the mansion, she was scarred and confused, she just didn't understand what had happened between her and that human.

Kestrel had a sleepless night. She thought about going down to talk to someone about Hugh, but she was afraid someone would think she had gone insane, she stayed up all night thinking of him, replaying everything that had happened between them in her head, and once she was away from him and thinking clearly she realized what had happened.

_Soul mates. _

That was the only way to explain it. Hugh was her soul mate, and she was his, they were meant to be together forever, but she didn't _want _to be with anyone, she didn't _want _to care about anyone but herself, and she diffidently didn't want anyone to know her secrets, especially Hugh. What would he think of her if he knew everything about her? He would hate her. Why would he hate her? Because she was bad.

Kestrel pulled the sheets over her head. _I'm staying in bed all day…maybe forever, Hugh can never see me again, I don't want to love him, so I wont. _she thought stubbornly, but barley had time to think it before there was a soft knock at her bedroom door and Rowan poked her head in.

"Kes? What are you still doing in bed? It's almost eleven, and you know we have that meeting at eleven, one of us will be able to go on our first mission for circle day break with a team, it's all you've talked about doing since we announced we were coming, I would have thought you'd be the first one up" Rowan said gently, but the authority in her voice was always there, it was something she both hated and loved about Rowan, it made her seem more like a mother then a sister sometimes, Rowan always knew what to do, but that voice was also the one that made her do homework, and clean her room.

Kestrel didn't say anything for a short while but finally she found her voice, she had wanted to go on her first mission, more then anything, but now she wasn't sure, all she wanted to do was lay in bed and think about Hugh, and hide from him, and Hugh the old soul, a big shot of circle day break operations, would certainly be at the meeting.

"Go away Rowan, I changed my mind, I don't want to. And I'm tired, that's not the way to go on my first mission." Kestrel said cynically, though everything out of her mouth was a lie, except that she had changed her mind, even though she did not sleep, she didn't feel tired, she felt anxious, and awake.

"Well I'm not surprised, Ash told me he saw you last night, he said you were having an argument with Hugh, are you okay?" Rowan asked gently as she sat on the foot of the bed.

"Yes I'm fine" Kestrel lied hoping Rowan would take the bait and leave. No such luck.

"Kestrel, please , I know your not being honest, I wont push you to tell me anything you don't want to, but just remember, you can talk to me about anything. You do have to get dressed though, I will not take no for an answer, I know how much you've wanted to go to your first meeting, and do a mission, I wont let you miss that chance, so come on, get up, get dressed, and meet us all in the meeting room." Rowan said, she tugged the blanket off Kestrel's blanket and then left. Kestrel stared at the ceiling unsure of whether or not she wanted to take the risk of seeing Hugh.

After fifteen minutes Kestrel finally decided to get out of bed, but she also decided not to get dressed up, it was just a bunch of people who she now lived with, what did she care if they saw her looking like crap, but before she knew it she was putting on her best white silky top, with her best black dress skirt and even her black flack flats, soon she was tying her hair up in an elegant golden knot, and putting on make up. When she was done she didn't look like Kestrel the fierce, wild animal anymore, she looked like Kestrel, the elegant beauty. Kestrel took a deep breath and then she opened her door and headed down to the meeting room, she was a little over a half hour later, and she was so nervous she felt like shaky and sick. _What if he doesn't like my outfit? What if he does? This was a bad idea, I should have stayed in bed, I should have locked my door and never let Rowan in, I should have never gone out hunting last night, if I had just stayed in bed this wouldn't even be an issue! _Kestrel thought and took one more breath before opening the door to the meeting room.

She had a feeling that all eyes were on her, she couldn't blame them really, she turned up late, and looking nicer then she ever had in her life, but at that moment all she could seem to keep her eyes on were intense grey ones that looked old and sad. Hugh.

Kestrel felt as though her breathing had stopped, her heart pounded, and Kestrel couldn't look away, now it seemed as though just being in the same room as him made her senses dim to everything but him, she could feel only Hugh, and only see him as well. She could feel his warmth and love towards her, she could feel the kindness and loneliness, along with a sense of longing for her. And she was shocked to realize she loved him back.

"Kes, come sit, we were just talking about that pack of wolves" it was Jade who broke the moment. She was sitting in her chair beside her soul mate Mark, her cat tiggy purring in her lap, she had that innocent smile that she always had, but Kestrel still felt like smacking her. Jade didn't know what she just ruined, but Kestrel was now back in her usual state of alertness and ready for a fight. Kestrel looked down trying to compose herself as she walked down to her chair, she sat down in-between Rowan and Jade, and diagonal from Hugh, with Ash across from her. She could feel Hugh's steady gaze on her _Goddess, doesn't he ever get embarrassed with just staring at some girl? He isn't even attempting to hide his staring! Does he ever blink? With the way he stares you'd think he had never seen a girl before. _

As soon as she thought it, Hugh dropped his gaze. _Had he read my mind again? _Kestrel looked up at him and narrowed her eyes, but quickly received a jab in the side from Rowan, forcing Kestrel to tune into the conversation around her.

"Well, I can't go, I would need to bring tiggy, and he's not comfortable around dogs, or watching other animal's get eaten…" Jade was saying and Kestrel couldn't resist herself. She smirked and glanced down at tiggy.

"Maybe it's because he knows he's next." Kestrel said and let her fangs show as she grinned at tiggy, Tiggy seemed to understand her every word and hissed at her then turned around so Kestrel couldn't see his face.

"Don't say that Kestrel! She didn't mean it tiggy!" Jade squealed and Mark glared viciously at Kestrel, Mark and Kestrel had never quiet gotten along, Mark's favorite thing in the world to do was to protect Jade and make her happy, Kestrel's had always been to tease and pick at her sisters and even Ash sometimes.

"Kestrel, were talking about sending a team of six down to a rather large pack of werewolves, not to fight, but to talk, to the pack leader, they haven't attacked any big portions of populations, other then excessive animal hunting, we don't know what their views on humans are, that's why we want to send a team down, not to fight, just watch them, monitor, it's in Texas, if they seem okay, we want for the team to talk to the leader, try to talk him into joining circle daybreak, if they seem…off, to put it lightly, we need them to be taken down. We can't risk such a strong pack joining up with the vampires, or stay around killing because eventually they might start on humans. It will be plenty dangerous. Werewolves are protective of their land, if your seen watching them or hunting on their land, or even just passing through, they will not hesitate to attack. I think humans get a pass from them because they don't know, but if they sense vampire or any other species around it will blow everything." it was Lady Hannah who explained this all to Kestrel, everyone was silent as she did. Thierry held one of Hannah's hands in his own, but he looked serious as he looked around, and then it came to Kestrel. Hugh couldn't fight, and he couldn't be silent when walking or running, he couldn't go. If she went, they would be apart, and maybe she would be able to squash her feelings for him in the time apart.

Kestrel jumped up from her seat almost at once. "I want to go!" she said a little to frantically, everyone turned to look at her, including Hugh, who's eyes had grown distant, his jaw set. Had she made him mad? Kestrel wondered, then pursed her lips, _it was good he was mind, if he's mad he wont love me_. Kestrel thought to herself. Hugh looked like he was about to say something but Thierry was talking.

"I don't see why not, Hannah? Hugh, Aradia? Any input?" He asked looking around, Hannah smiled.

"I believe it would be a good first mission, but not everyone can be first timers, we'll have to pick the rest of the team carefully" Hannah said, Aradia only nodded, they all turned to Hugh, who seemed to have completely lose himself, but he blinked and looked around then took a deep breath.

"I want Rashel and Quinn to go with her. I also want Jez, Morgead, and since Keller is currently unavailable, Ash." that was what Hugh said. That was all Hugh said. He stood up and left, his head high, but his jaw set, and his eyes distant. Kestrel sat back down, her heart felt like it had sank down into her butt, suddenly she wasn't so excited to go she wanted to follow Hugh, to comfort him and tell him she would never leave him, but she had to, she had to make him see she couldn't love anyone and he shouldn't love her. she looked down at my hands in my lap, Ash kicked her shin, not hard, but enough to make her look up at him.

'_you can't run from him. Believe me, I tried. It doesn't work like that.' _Ash's voice sounded in her head. Kestrel stared at him. So he knew. How long had he known? It didn't matter, Ash was just screwing with her, she would find a way to break the connection, she didn't want this, and neither did Hugh, Hugh only thought he did.

"Okay well it looks like we have our team, though I don't know how I feel about Jez going…she's a wild power, if you guys get caught, not only will she die, but-" Thierry tried to say but Jez was quick to interrupt him.

"I am going Thierry. I need to stay in touch with my skill, those dummies in the training room just wont cut it, I mean, no matter how many times Morgy tries to beat me, I still need competition" Jez said with a grin, and Morgead's face flushed with fury.

"I _let _you win _Jezebel_" Morgead said through his teeth, Jez turned to hit him but Morgead was fast, he caught her wrist and smirked at Jez. Jez yanked her wrist away and stared ar Morgead through narrowed eyes before returning to look at Thierry.

"plus it sounds like Hugh really needs me to be there, you know he wouldn't send me out unless he absolutely had to. Clearly he thinks the team will need my power or extra protection" Quinn snorted at this and even Rashel rolled her eyes.

"Like we would ever even get close to needing help. We could do this mission in our sleep." it was Quinn who spoke and Morgead glared.

"Yah right, you could never out do Jez and I, the two of you will be begging to go home before we even see some action" Morgead spat back at Quinn. Quinn and Morgead stood up at the exact same time as if to jump at each other and try and claw the other's throat back. Kestrel looked between them, she wasn't sure who would win, Morgead was a lot bigger then Quinn, but Quinn's reputation made him to be fiercer then almost any other vampire. It was Ash who stood up to stop this.

"Wait, that isn't why Hugh wants Jez to go. He knows you can all take care of yourselves, but it's Kestrel. She's his soul mate." Ash said and sat back down, Kestrel could feel heat rising to her cheeks as everyone stared at her. Kestrel glared at Ash, and then she stood up, she didn't want everyone to know, she herself didn't even want to know, and now it was out. Kestrel walked as calmly and silently as she could to the door and disappeared out it. As soon as she had shut the door behind her she broke out in a run to get back up to her room, she would refuse to come out until the second she had to leave with the team.

Kestrel locked her door and yanked her hair out of the bun, she stripped her clothes and replaced them with sweat pants, a big t-shirt, and socks, then she wiped off her makeup then jumped in bed and curled in a ball. Her heart hurt and all she wanted was to both see Hugh and never see him. The choice was lifted off her shoulders when there was a soft knock at her door.

"Go away!" she called but the lock on the door turned and in came Hugh anyway. He had a key. Damn you Thierry. Kestrel pulled the blankets over her head and turned her back to him, she couldn't let him see her upset. She felt the bed go down a little bit beside her, and even through all the blankets she could feel Hugh's warmth and love radiating off him like a warm heater placed right beside her, meaning he had sat down on the bed.

"Kestrel, please, don't do this." it was the first time Kestrel had ever heard him sound vulnerable, Hugh while sweet always seemed so confident and sure. She felt Hugh put a hand on where her shoulder was under the blankets and rubbed it a little, and before she could think about it her body seemed to have a mind of it's own and suddenly she was turned around, out of the covers, her head pushed against Hugh's chest, and she threw her arms around Hugh's body, Hugh wrapped an arm around her back and used the other to cradle her head against his chest.

'_I love you Kestrel, I really do. Please don't run from me, don't hide, you don't need to hide from me, I know you want to be with me, but I wont make you. I will never make you do anything you don't want to do, but you want this, I can feel it.' _Hugh's voice was in her mind again, and this time she let it stay, she could feel his mind wrapping itself around hers, both his mind and body putting her in a safe cocoon, filling her with every ounce of his love, she could feel his mind breaking through her mental walls, and she couldn't stop it, and linking their minds, was a silver cord, thick and bright.

'_you can't love me Hugh! Don't you see? I'm not good for you. If you knew …me…you would know you deserve so much better…' _Kestrel replied and only realized then that Hugh had managed to break down her walls and was exploring her mind, going through her secrets and past.

He saw her being canned by her father for being sweet to a werewolf

He saw her talking her sisters into trying to lure a human that wasn't in a trance into the village for them to feed on

He saw her kill another vampire as a child for stealing her favorite doll

He saw her being compared to Rowan and Jade, and hurting so much she could hardly stand it whenever people talked highly of them but all they could say about her was "she's the mean one" but never showing emotion to it, keeping it all in

He saw her never crying over death or tragedy

He saw her being beaten from doing wrong

He saw her falling head over heels over a werewolf boy

He saw her father torturing the boy to death right in front of Kestrel, teaching her werewolves were second class and bad, while she watched, showing no emotion, or expression of concern

He saw her start out as a happy baby, always trying to do things alone, to a malicious, sarcastic teenager with the philosophy of "Kill or be killed" and taking it to heart, murdering every night person who ever did her wrong.

Then he saw how her love for him was so intense it hurt, he saw she was afraid of hurting him, of him leaving, of wanting to stay away so she wont be hurt, or scared, or confused, so she could go back to being the fierce cold girl she was.

Kestrel had not meant for him to see any of this, but no matter how much she tried to push his mind away, she couldn't.

'_you'll never hurt, or ache, or be alone again. I wont let you. All that I've seen, I know how your hurt, I know how strong you have always needed to be, to protect yourself, to protect other, you don't need to be strong around me Kestrel. I love you, I can be strong for you.'_

And those were the words she had been waiting all her life to here. "I'll be strong for you" he had said. She didn't know that's what she wanted or needed, to not be strong for once, but now that it was an option, she couldn't bring herself to push it away any longer, Hugh had seen everything about her, all her bad deeds, all her killings, all that had ever upset her, and every time she had desperately wanted to pull her hair out, kick, scream, and cry, but remained silent with her emotions blocked, and he still loved her.

'_Hugh I love you.' _it was the first time she had ever said it, even admitted it, but it was out now. And before she knew it Hugh was yanking her up in his arms and kissing her in a sweet yet fierce and desperate way, Kestrel kissed back and held onto Hugh as though she would never see him again. And while they were kissing she explored through Hugh's mind.

She saw him as a boy, she watched as a small happy, scrawny boy laughed and played with his sisters, while his father started a fire, and his mother took pictures. The little boy had fair skin and grey knowing eyes, he seemed to talk and know things that he shouldn't, and every time he mentioned something he shouldn't even know how to pronounce or just know about something, his sisters would exchange a look but would smile and laugh it off, his sisters were beautiful, one as blond as him and very tall but had sun kissed skin and hazel, the other a brunette with fair skin and dark eyes, but fairly smaller then the other girl, the father was a big man with dark hair and dark eyes and a tan, the mother a small dainty women with blond hair and grey eyes like Hugh's, and fair skin again like Hugh's, it was a perfect family scene, and they soon sat down to eat dinner, all bowing their heads in a prayer, and that's when there was a howl, the family looked up and looked around, the father had grabbed his grill fork and was looking around, scanning the area, the mother was silently herding her children to the family car, probably assuming it was just a mountain wolf, and they could wait it out in the car. And that's when it happened. Several rogue werewolves jumped out of the tree's and snarled looking at the family, the father tried to stab one with the grill fork, another hit the father over the head, making the father fall the ground unconscious, Hugh's mother screamed and shoved her kids into the car then slammed the door shut, her last action to protect them before a werewolf dug it's claw's in her back and dragged them down, the mother screaming the whole time, falling to the ground in pain only to have her throat cut by a claw causing her immediate death, the last and biggest werewolf tried to open the door, but his claws made it difficult so finally he gave up and smashed the window. Hugh's sisters screamed, but he stayed silent, Hugh's sisters wrapped their arms around him and each other, screaming and crying and telling each other they loved each other. The large werewolf grabbed the tall sister by her blonde hair and dragged her out the window and tossed her to the others, then grabbed the second sister, his second sister put up a fight and, boxing him in the nose and clawing his eye before the wolf decided to bang her head against the ceiling of the car knocking her unconscious and also leaving her bleeding from the head while he pulled her out, ripping a gleaming silver cross from her neck and throwing it in the dirt. He dragged the girl to the others and smiled at his three companions. "Dinner is served!" he called but one cocked his head to the side.

"What about that last one?" he was small for a wolf, but his teeth made his words distorted enough for him to be scary.

"He's to small, not more then a mouth full, besides we don't have much time left, the dame's screaming is sure to bring up rangers soon." the big one replied and the small wolf grabbed Hugh's mother, another that had jet black hair grabbed his father, one with light brown hair, grabbed the brunet sister, and the last and largest got the blonde sister, who was still conscious, and was sobbing and begging them to leave her alone. And then the werewolves began to eat, the blonde sister shrieking ear splitting, spine chilling, blood curdling screams while Hugh silently got out of the car, picked up his sisters cross from the dirt, he had remembered killing a werewolf in a past life with silver. He edged toward the black haired one that grabbed his father -it was the closest one- and stabbed the cross into it's back, the wolf was up and howling in pain. The others looked up, and one lunged for Hugh, Hugh tried to run but it caught his leg and chomped down on it, Hugh didn't scream, he didn't cry, he was accepting his death when the park rangers jeep rolled up to the camp site, and the werewolves all ran into the woods. Hugh looked around at his family, his mother, her insides were strewn all around her body, she was hardly recognizable, his father's heart was gone, his brunet sister's liver was shredded, her heart on the ground beside her, his blonde sister was still struggling to breath, tears streaming down her face. Hugh crawled to her side and grabbed her hand. "Amber… mommy, daddy, and Carry are dead, Amber, are you hurting?" Hugh asked through tears, he may have seen hundreds of deaths in his time, but no matter how many he had seen, if it was someone he loved dearly, it still hurt.

"I don't feel much Hughy…I love you, don't let it beat you." the one called Amber said, she lifted her hand, stroked his cheek, and just like that, her face froze, her breathing stopped, and her hand fell. Amber was dead.

After Kestrel saw that memory, others were racing into her mind, Hugh as a five year old, trying to explain to the other kids what reincarnation is, Hugh as an eight year old, and making friends with a lamia boy, Hugh as a ten year old knocking out the lamia boy who had tried to kill him, Hugh as a twelve year old and finding a member of circle daybreak at last, Hugh as a thirteen year old and training as hard as he could with a limp leg, learning how to kill bad night creatures and learning all he could about the night world till he was as much an expert as the brightest night person, Hugh as a fourteen year old and comforting young girl who had just lost her family to a vampire attack, Hugh as fifteen and saving a lost witch from a shifter, Hugh as sixteen and meeting Jez, she soon become the most important person in his life, and him willing to risk all he had learned about growing attached to people in his past lives to be with her,

Hugh as Seventeen…walking into Thierry's mansion in the middle of the night, limping up to the second floor, walking down the hall to the second set of stairs, feeling someone following him, but assuming it was one of the other residents going up to the roof to look at the stars or something, going up the second set up stairs and almost to his room when a strong pull to something, he turned around and there she was, Kestrel. Through Hugh's eyes Kestrel was the most beautiful girl he had ever laid eyes on, her golden waves of hair seeming to glow in the dim light, her night gown fitting perfectly on her, her skin fresh and perfect, her face more beautiful then any angel could ever have, her golden eyes are what really caught him, they told him everything about her, he saw a fierce warrior, a strong independent soul who couldn't be made to do anything she wasn't willing to, stubborn, and beautiful, but he saw through her exterior, he saw how young and vulnerable she could feel, and how protective she was of her family, and also what sweetness and love she could give if given the chance. In his eyes she was perfection, no one could hold a candle to her beauty, he didn't see the savage, selfish, uncaring animal of a female everyone else saw. That moment they had met in the hallway when she tried to stab him, he had fallen deeply in love with her, before he even knew she was his soul mate.

'_Hugh…I didn't know… all you have been through… I've been selfish, I only thought about what I wanted to stay hidden, with everything bad that happened to me, I let it harden me, but Hugh, you're stronger then I have ever been, or ever will be, you watched your family slaughtered, you never breathed a word of it until you met circle day break, even in your past lives, all those horrible memories, and you were still able to love, and be nice, and know who you are.' _Kestrel thought to him, and gently began to pull back from their kiss to look at Hugh, but he refused to let her go, he broke apart for one breath then pulled Kestrel back to him and continued their kiss.

'_Kestrel don't think that. You're the strongest person I have ever met. You need to understand that people show their strength in different ways, and deal with pain in different ways from others. Kestrel you know how different the two of us are, but when it comes down to it, we've both been hurt, and lost before, but what happened was we learned to deal with it differently, you saw what happened to my family, after they were killed I was put in foster homes, everyone there was so…cold, it was like they had all lost the will to live, and after all the lives I lived I knew that wasn't right, I learned to talk to people, to help them, and just be the friend they needed. You though, you grew up in a cold world, that occasional had love in the forms of your sisters, Rowan, the guidance, Jade the innocence, you have given them more then you can ever imagine, when Jade cried over losing a cat, Rowan held her, and comforted her, and you stood tall, telling her there were other cats, and remained level headed, and when Rowan was planning to runaway with a werewolf, Jade was all for it, happy Rowan would leave the village finally, but sobbing because she would miss Rowan, and you Kestrel, realized what they didn't, you saw that your father would send Ash after Rowan if you left, you knew Ash would kill you and the wolf if she left, you convinced Rowan to stay, what I'm trying to say here is that, even when your sisters and everyone else think your being cold at the time, even you may think that's how it is, but underneath, your protecting them, you remain level headed and see reason when no one else can. When everyone else is crying and confused, you hold your tears, and find a way to protect who you love. That is pure strength.' _Hugh explained to Kestrel, stroking her hair, and holding her close.

Kestrel pulled away from him and buried her head in the crook of Hugh's neck and done something she had not done since she was a baby. She cried. She let out all the years of sadness and loneliness and longing for happiness right there. She sobbed and tried to stop but found that she couldn't. Hugh held her the whole time, whispering that he loved her, and she would never have to hold it in, or be alone again, whispering he would do everything in his power to make her happy and keep her safe, whispering she would never have to hide again.


	2. Chapter 2

Night World: Book four (my take): Story one: Old Souls

Chapter Two:

Kestrel didn't remember falling asleep. And yet, Kestrel's eyes fluttered open, and it had been several hours, it was nearly time for dinner. Kestrel started getting up when she heard the rustle of sheets beside her. She glanced over and saw Hugh laying there, his eyes closed, but his hand feeling the spot where she had been lying for her, when he didn't feel her there he opened his eyes and sat up quickly then quickly looked over and saw her and let out a breath of relief. "I don't remember falling asleep" Kestrel said quietly and looking down at her knee's and pulling them to her chest.

"oh yah, I guess you can't be blamed, you were crying, and then you started to let up, and then…just fell asleep, you cried yourself to exaughstion, you held in a lot. I was going to leave, but I didn't want to leave you alone, and I guess I passed out to, I'll go" Hugh said and began standing up but Kestrel caught the sleeve of his t-shirt.

"We can go down to dinner together, just, I need to shower" Kestrel said looking up at Hugh, she didn't want him to go, earlier that day she wanted nothing to do with him, and now it seemed like she couldn't get enough of him. Hugh nodded and sat back down, he kissed her forehead and then her hand making Kestrel's mind whirl. Kestrel hugged Hugh for a moment and then stood up, she grabbed her things and went into the shower.

When Kestrel got out, Hugh was waiting on the bed for her, he was watching some old movie on TV, but when he saw her he stood up quickly. "a maid knocked about fifteen minutes ago for dinner, we should probably go down now" he said and held his hand out to Kestrel. Kestrel took it gratefully and smiled before walking down towards the dinning room, she was always impressed with the dinning room, it had a large crystal chandelier over a large marble table with a white cloth over it, it had golden candle holders with unlit white candle's in them, it had real silver wear, and crystal wine glasses, and elegantly patterned plates, it was large, and the chairs seemed antique and made from dark wood, and Thierry always had light classical music playing in the back ground.

Half the room looked up when Hugh and Kestrel walked in, Kestrel looked down, but Hugh kept his head up and guided Kestrel to two empty chairs in-between Ash and Rowan, Kestrel sat beside Rowan, and Hugh beside Ash, Kestrel never liked sitting beside Ash, and she doubted she would like it any better since he told the whole house about she and Hugh.

Kestrel could feel Rowan's happiness that Kestrel had found her soul mate, and she could hear Ash telling Hugh dirty jokes with that stupid grin on his face, and every now and then I heard Quinn and Morgead's chorus of laughter at Ash. Hugh smiled a smile that didn't reach his eyes and after a while Jez elbowed Morgead in the ribs for laughing about one of Ash's more grotesque jokes. Other then Ash's jokes, and Poppy and James giggling at the end of the table, dinner was silent, even Jade who never seemed to know when to shut up was quiet.

"So, were leaving tomorrow Kestrel, we all have a flight, Thierry is letting us take his jet, Mary-Lynette and Hugh can ride along, but they can't stay, have your things ready early." Rashel told Kestrel and Kestrel nodded, giving Hugh's hand a squeeze, she didn't want to go anymore, she didn't want to leave Hugh behind, but she had already volunteered and it was to late to change it. Hugh squeezed back and finished up his dinner as fast as he could.

Hugh excused himself from dinner, he kissed Kestrel on the cheek and left the dinning room and headed up the stairs when someone caught his sleeve, he could tell it wasn't Kestrel so he turned and was almost surprised to see Jez. "What is it Jez?" he asked and cocked his head to the side.

"I just wanted to say, I'm happy for you. I know how hard it is to be without your soul mate, I mean, after I found Morgead was my soul mate, I looked back, at all the years I had known him, and been with him, and I knew that without him, things wouldn't have been the same, I would have grown up miserable, and alone, and looking back at that year I spent without him, if it hadn't been for you I would have…well I don't know, I wouldn't have been able to drag myself out of bed every morning" That coming from Jez meant a lot, Hugh had never known her to be sentimental. Hugh looked at Jez, Hugh took a strand of her wild red hair and twirled it in his fingers, he sighed and smiled, he used to love Jez, even after she and Morgead got together, he loved her, he loved her up until the night before and laid eyes on Kestrel Redfern. Now that Hugh looked at Jez it seemed silly that He had ever tried to be with her, Jez was stubborn, and talkative, she had a way of knowing what to say and how to manipulate people until she got what she wanted, she was tough, and hard core, while Kestrel seemed to just go with things, she was fierce, and intense, and she usually stayed quiet, and would do anything to survive, yah, that's a good way to describe her, a survivor.

"Thanks Jez, that means a lot coming from you. I'm happy for you to, I never got a chance to say so, and yah…I never really felt _alone _but I did at the same time, every life I would live, love, and lose everyone and everything, and then it would happen all over again, so eventually you get used to it, to avoid the hurt you don't get attached, though I suppose you know that already, I thought it was alright, but now…I don't know, I mean, living that way is natural for old souls, we still have friends, and people we care about, that's part of being a person, and we know that we don't need anymore than that to be okay, so I wont say living that way is wrong, but it's sad, I see now, I lucked out when I met Kestrel, she just happened to be going on a late night stroll on the night I just happened to get back, and for an old soul to find a soul mate…it's nearly impossible, I'm the only old soul in the world that found my perfect other, and she _happens _to be a vampire, so if she changes me, then great, we'll live forever together, if not then she'll find me like Thierry, or I'll find her, but we'll make it back to each other, what about all the other old souls? The one's who's soul mates _aren't _vampires, when they both die, the old soul will come back, the soul mate wont, the old soul will live life after life…alone, knowing they had love, but will _never _get it back." Hugh finished and bite the inside of his cheek ad sighed. He pinched the bridge of his nose and then looked at Jez again. Jez seemed to be thinking this over, she swallowed hard and ran a hand through her hair.

"Hugh I never thought of it like that…I'm sorry…" she trailed off but Hugh just shook his head, he turned away and started back up the stairs. He planned on taking a shower and then spending the rest of the night with Kestrel, he didn't care how ridiculous it seemed, tomorrow she was leaving to go and put her neck on the line, he wanted to be with her as much as he could.

"Are we there yet?!" Ash complained, leaning forward in his seat to shake Quinn's while Mary-Lynette held in giggles.

"We'll get there when we get there!" Quinn yelled back at him, turning in his seat to give Ash a look that made Ash flinch.

"UUUUUGGGHH! We've been on this plane for a year and six days! Why does Texas have to be so big?! It's bigger then France for Christ's sake!" Ash complained and just about everybody rolled their eyes.

Kestrel leaned in her seat so her head was resting on Hugh's shoulder, they hadn't sleep much the night before, they stayed up talking, sometimes not even talking, just being together in silence made Kestrel feel like she was in heaven. Hugh kissed her forehead, that seemed to be one of his favorite places to kiss her. Kestrel was surprised to find out just how much she enjoyed how Hugh making her safe, like she could let her guard down, she almost like a little girl again, but at the same time a woman.

The plane began to descend Kestrel sat up and put her seat belt on, she held onto Hugh's hand, this was it, the last time she would see him for months. Hugh turned Kestrel's face towards him and cupped her face in his hands and kissed her passionately, Kestrel didn't want it to end, and nearly refused to leave when Rashel tapped her shoulder signaling her to stand and leave. "I love you Hugh" she murmured before standing, Hugh caught her arm and stared her in the eyes.

"I love you to Kestrel" he said softly and kissed her once more, and then Kestrel was getting off the Jet behind Morgead.

Ash was the last to get off the plane, he kissed Mare good bye, he would miss her more then anything, he could have refused to go, but Hugh had specifically said that he wanted Ash to go, it was no secret Hugh picked out this team to give Kestrel the maximum amount of protection possible since she insisted on coming, and Hugh was incapable of coming on his own. Hugh hadn't said it, but we all knew that's exactly what he was thinking, and no one could blame him, Ash would have done the exact same thing if it had been Mare, same with Quinn and Rashel, and every other person with a soul mate. Ash didn't mind being sent either, he and his sisters had had their fights, just like any other siblings, and he did love them, regardless what they thought of him, he wouldn't have killed them if they refused to come to burdock farm, he would have simply knocked em out, bagged em, and carried them back to the village, he would have killed his aunt Opal, even his own mother and father, but no matter what he said or did, he did love his sisters deep down, and they had been patching things up lately, he probably would have said he would go even if Hugh had not decided for him, he didn't want Kestrel alone, this was her first mission, the others would guard their soul mates, someone needed to help Kestrel, He knew she probably wouldn't accept it, hell, Kestrel was the type to go _looking _for trouble, but Ash didn't want to see her die for it.

Ash grabbed Kestrel's bag for her, and then he grabbed Rashel's to, and suddenly Morgead was grabbing all the bags he could, and so was Ash, they had all packed several bags, they would be gone for four months, maybe more, so there were a lot of bags, they were awkward to carry, especially since Ash and Morgead had both ended up grabbing all the bags, even Quinn's, we grabbed so many they couldn't exactly see where they were going, and constantly ran into things and people, Rashel and Jez offered to take their's at least, but Morgead and Ash were having some mental contest on who was stronger, and who could carry more, Quinn and Kestrel didn't even attempt to grab their bags from them though, they simply stood there smirking in amusement, smart enough, but also inconsiderate enough to let Ash and Morgead bump into random strangers, and struggle with the bags.

The car ride was short, but rowdy, everyone was excited about the mission, the only one who didn't seem to be talking was Kestrel, but Ash wasn't exactly surprised by that, Kestrel never really said much, it was clear that she though a lot, maybe more then anyone else in the Redfern family, but she hardly ever verbalized anything, and when she did, it was usually something malicious. Jez and Rashel tried a few times to pull Kestrel into the conversation, but all Kestrel would do was nod or shrug and when something particularly gruesome was said she would smirk, or laugh at the locker room humor.

The team was just outside of the wolves territory when they began setting up a base camp, they had decided it would be safer to camp in the woods so we could sense everything going on around them, we brought three small tents for two people per tent, they had originally planned for Jez and Kestrel to share a tent, then Rashel and Quinn, then Ash and Morgead, but through out the first night Jez left her tent and entered Ash and Morgead's to snuggle up with Morgead, and kicking out Ash, so Ash left to share a tent with Kestrel. He lay there trying to sleep, but Ash couldn't, he missed Mary-Lynette to much, and ended up just staring up at the top of the tent, Kestrel was quiet, but Ash knew she wasn't asleep, he knew that she tossed and turned and spread out as much as she could in her sleep, and even though she slowed her breathing, and heart rate, Ash could just tell she was wide awake, thinking of Hugh. It was weird for Ash to think about, thinking of his sister with a man, usually he had no problem running off his sisters boyfriends, but Hugh was her soul mate, and even if Ash did try and run him off, he knew he would fail, with Mark at least he could scare Mark into keeping his hands off Jade till they were older, but with Hugh, well, Ash could be swinging a gun right at his nose, and Hugh would only look him in the eye, and do nothing. The more he thought about it the sicker he felt, Jade was so innocent, the thought of doing anything before marriage wouldn't even occur to her, and Mark wouldn't provoke it he knew, Rowan had no soul mate, but she was older then him, and more responsible, she may not wait until after marriage, but she wouldn't certainly make whoever she fell for wait for it, Kestrel was completely different story though, he knew, Hugh wouldn't put any moves on her, in fact it seemed as though he was willing to not even tell her he loved her if he thought it would make her happy, but that was the problem, Hugh was a push over when it came to Kestrel, that much was clear as day, but Kestrel was different from his other sisters, and Hugh, Kestrel was always the fierce impulsive one, not only impulsive, she knew exactly what she wanted the exact second she had a decision to make, even if it was what everyone else called bad, she would never regret doing or taking what she wanted, she was nearly as ruthless as He was, she would do almost anything to get what she wanted, their parents had always considered she and Ash to be the "bad" ones, she knew what she wanted, when she wanted it, and how to get it, Kestrel didn't care for consequences as long as she got her way to begin with, Ash could nearly see it, the moment they returned to the Mansion from Texas, Kestrel walking past Hugh, beckoning him with her eyes for him to follow, Hugh saying "Hello" and "Good-bye" to Jez before following Kestrel into her room, them locking themselves in a kiss, things heating up, Hugh hesitating, asking if it's what she truly wanted, Kestrel kissing him in response…

Ash pushed his pillow against his face then banged his head on the ground and groaned. Kestrel whipped around, took the pillow, and stared down at Ash.

"What's wrong?" she asked, her eyes intent and alert, Ash shook his head, refusing to tell her, he might have told Rowan what he felt, and lied to Jade knowing she would believe him, but Kestrel while smart, was not comforting in any way, shape, or form. Ash played out what would have happened with his other sisters. Rowan would gently pull the pillow from his face, and gently shake his shoulders in case he was having a bad dream and say "What's wrong?" with big concerned eyes filled with worry and guidance, he would tell her, and she would tell him not worry, that she would be okay, and to try to get some sleep, maybe even hug him, Jade would squeal in fear, pry his pillow from his hands, grip his wrist and nearly yell "Ash?! Ash?! Are you okay?! Your still alive?!" and Ash would groan and sit up and reply "Yah I'm fine, just miss Mare is all, that's all, get some sleep" and she would nod filled with relief and go back to sleep. But he wasn't with Rowan or Jade, he was with Kestrel, the hard one that always made him want to pull his hair out. She didn't look afraid, or concerned, or even the slightest bit worried that her big brother who had always taken pride on how much his sisters believer he was strong and nearly indestructible, was banging his head on the ground smothering his face with a pillow, she looked more annoyed, probably at the fact that he had interrupted her own thoughts.

"Well? Are you going to tell me what the hell is up your ass or what?" Kestrel said in a tone one step away from a hiss. Ash glared at her and started sitting up, he narrowed his eyes at her.

"No." he said simply and glared with his arms crossed over his chest. He was about to tell her to lay down and sleep when his pillow made hard contact with his face. It didn't hurt, but it was annoying, and Ash had a feeling that if there was a block of wood in the tent, or even a tooth pick, Kestrel would have her way with it. "Hey! You may think I have gone soft since Mare, but your dead wrong! I'll still handicap you in a second, _baby sister!" _he said the last part in a hiss. Kestrel narrowed her eyes and got in a defensive crouch, and though she said nothing, the look in her eyes said "then come and get me" and Ash obliged. He jumped from his sleeping bag to Kestrel and knocked her onto the tent wall, the tent flipped, all their belongings fell onto them while Kestrel kicked Ash off her, but not before Ash could grab her hand so she tumbled with him, they were yelling, and hissing and snarling at each other, Kestrel was stronger then Ash had thought, and who taught her to fight?

Somewhere along their fighting, the tent had flipped several more times, their things sprawled everywhere, but just as he took notice of that he realized the tent had stopped moving, and Quinn was pulling Kestrel out by the arm, Ash was strong, but Quinn was strong, so when Kestrel tried to fight him, he had no trouble grabbing her other arm and shoving her out, Ash crawled out behind them and looked around, everyone was out of their tents, Ash and Kestrel's tent was flipped upside down.

"_What _are you two doing?! You caused enough racket to start an avalanche!" Rashel said sharply.

"What were you guys fighting about?!" It was Jez who said this, Morgead almost smirking behind her, Quinn released his death grip on Kestrel, and Ash winced at the bruises that were almost done healing. Neither Kestrel nor Ash said anything, and Rashel let out an exasperated sigh.

"Okay, since neither of you have _any _sense, Kestrel, Jez, share a tent with me, Quinn and the boys will take the other, and no one will trade, we can cut up the other tent to use as tarps over ours if it rains or something." Rashel directed, and to Ash's surprise, nobody seemed to be in the mood to argue, though Jez looked close to it. Jez turned and kissed Morgead, Rashel did the same with Quinn, before reaching in the upside down tent and gathering Kestrel's things with her, and moving them to the tent Rashel had been sleeping in, the boys went to the one Morgead had.

Quinn and Ash set up their things, both relatively silent. Ash laid down to sleep, but couldn't, apparently he wasn't the only one though, Morgead and Quinn were awake to, none of them really pretending to be sleep, but also not saying anything until finally Morgead sat up and looked over at Quinn and Ash. "That's it, none of us is asleep, let's go" he said quietly and started exiting the tent, Ash and Quinn looked at each other before Ash grinned and followed, behind him he could hear Quinn sigh but he followed as well.

"Where are we going?" Ash asked Morgead in a whisper, Morgead was walking so silently no one had to clarify whether or not he wanted to alert the girls, because it was clear as crystal, he did not.

"Were going to watch the territory, see any activity, Werewolves like to hunt dead in the night anyway" Morgead explained with a smirk that Ash couldn't help but smirk back at as well. Quinn followed, and Ash knew he was smiling to. They all walked about a quarter mile, when Morgead came to a stop, they peered through some bushes, and saw a wolf, he was in the middle of chewing up a squirrel heart when the sound of a howl made him look up and retreat towards the noise. A squirrel? Ash had hoped it wouldn't be a human he saw, but a _squirrel?_ this was pathetic. Morgead glared in the direction of the wolf then stood. "come on, let's have some fun." he said, jumping from behind the bush and started climbing the fire escape of a building, he found a bucket and tossed it down to Ash and Quinn, Ash caught it and smirked, he knew exactly what Morgead had in mind, a night of messing with the humans, teen pranks. Morgead jumped down and then Ash led the way to a hose, they filled the bucket with water, and walked a little while down the sidewalk until they found a night club, they climbed up the roof, and waited for someone to come out. They didn't need to wait long before a large guy, with black hair, and a tall woman with blonde hair and an outfit that screamed "Tramp" came out. Morgead lifted the bucket to the ledge, and poured the water down onto the couple. The girl shrieked as though we had stabbed her ten times, the guy growled and looked up and yelled.

"HEY! I'M CALLING THE COPS!" he shouted and Morgead, Quinn, and Ash turned and sat behind the ledge of the roof laughing and clapping hard. The guy began climbing the ladder to the roof, and the three boys ran to jump off the roof, leaving behind the angry couple, and headed to take part in their next scheme.

Kestrel sat up when she heard the crunch of leaves, Rashel and Jez had done the same, they all listened in complete silence when they heard Ash whisper "Where are we going?" and then Morgead reply "Were going to watch the territory, see any activity, Werewolves like to hunt dead in the night anyway". Once the foot steps died away Jez began to climb from the tent, but Rashel stopped her. "Don't, _if _they are really tracking werewolves, there is three of them, and we'll do it in the morning, and let them sleep." Rashel told her and Jez's forehead creased.

"What do you mean '_if_'?" she asked cocking her head to the side and Rashel shook her head.

"Well, they might trail a wolf or two for awhile, but when you have more then one man alone, without a woman around, you no longer have men, you have children, and Jez, you happen to be dating the ring leader, so far, I'm sure they will all take turns" Rashel explained and Kestrel laughed a little and Jez smiled.

"It certainly makes sense" Jez agreed and sat back down, she dug through her bag and pulled out Oreo's and set them in the middle of all the girls. "Well since the boys are out doing fun, we should treat ourselves to" she said opening the package. "any of you know what girl talk is?" she asked taking a cookie. Kestrel and Rashel looked at each other and shrugged, they each took a cookie.

"My cousin Clair used to have friends over, they talked about boys and Steven Tyler" she wrinkled her nose but turned to Kestrel and smiled "Though I have been wanted to know what's going on with you and Hugh, Ash said you two are soul mates?" Rashel asked Kestrel, making Kestrel's cheeks burn remembering the kiss they shared.

"Yes, we are." Kestrel answered after swallowing her cookie.

"how lucky, I bet Hugh knows all the right moves with all those past lives to remember" Rashel joked and Jez and Kestrel both cracked up.

"Come on Rashel, you know that isn't true, Hugh's gentle and sweet, though I'm sure Quinn knows what he's doing" Jez teased Rashel back, the three of them laughing again.

"Well I would say the same for Morgead, but I picture him being rather rough" Kestrel said with a smirk, the laughter seemed to stay after this, the three girls teasing each other about their Soul mates, and soon it turned into dirty jokes, the laughter never dying, none of them calmed down even a little until the cookies had run out, and then they slowly began drifting off.

When Kestrel woke in the morning there was a blood bag beside her head, Rashel and Jez were both gone. Kestrel drank the blood bag and then got dressed. She left the tent and found everyone sitting in a circle, planning.

"Morning" Ash said without looking up, Quinn was strategizing a plan on how to keep watch.

"What's the plan?" She asked sitting beside Jez on the ground with a yawn.

"Well, Jez and Morgead are taking the north side, Rashel and Quinn are on the south, and you and me are taking the west, the east is blocked off by a garbage yard, were just watching, if anyone see clears out today we will alternate posts and take turns watching night and day, now so far we know there at least six members of the pack, but there could be more, last night me and the guys saw a wolf tearing into a squirrel, that's a good sign" Ash said and Kestrel nodded.

"Okay, so everybody got it? If we see one killing a human, go for the kill, after a few weeks of watching, we'll approach one, get familiar which should take another few weeks, then ask to be taken to their pack leader, and then the real dangerous part, Rashel will talk to the leader, try and get him to join day break, if he isn't interested, we leave, if he is we stay and decide whether or not they are coming back to the mansion with us, if not we'll try to set up contacts between us so we can reach them when we need to, and try to convince them to set up watch posts to take out any rogue night people or circle mid night's." Quinn decided, everyone listened to his words intently, _so this is why people let you make the plans. _Kestrel thought and nodded along with everyone else. "Okay, then let's go."

It was late at night. Kestrel and Ash had been watching for several weeks, Morgead and Jez made progress with two of the wolves, it had been almost a month, so hopefully soon they would be back at the mansion, so she could see Hugh, curl up with him on the bed, and just let him hold her, yah, that's all she wanted, all she _needed_. Kestrel smiled softly with her eyes closed.

"Kes? You okay? I've never seen you smile like that." Ash said and Kestrel opened her eyes, stopped smiling and looked at him trying to keep her face expressionless.

"Yah I'm fine, I was uh, just thinking about how nice it would be to be back at the mansion, with Hugh" she admitted, her cheeks flushing with color. Ash glanced at her and nodded, Kestrel knew he was thinking about Mary-Lynette. They boy exhaled and then watched the rode. And that's when it happened. Kestrel saw him. A large man, probably about forty, he had tan skin, and dark hair, and black eyes, he was about to go hunting. Ash nudged my leg and whispered. "That's him, that's the leader" He said anxiously as they watched, but Kestrel hardly heard him, her mind went back to when Hugh showed her his memories, the day his family was killed, the whole scene played out over and over again in her head.

Hugh's dark haired sister, fighting to survive, clawing at the werewolf's eye until she was pulled from the window. Kestrel stared at the man intently, he had the exact same scar in the exact same pattern that Hugh's sister's nails dug into his flesh, his build the same, his skin the same, his hair also the same, he looked exactly the same except for some wrinkles around the eyes and mouth. Kestrel gripped Ash's arm so hard her nails dug into him.

"Ash! That's him! He's the one who killed Hugh's family! We have to do something!" she said desperately and Ash looked at her like she was insane.

"Wait, no, we can't do anything, it would get us killed, he probably has some of his pack around him all the time, and how do you _know _he's the one?!" Ash exclaimed staring at her and then at the wolf, and then at her.

"Me and Hugh, we were in my room, kissing, we showed each other our thoughts, and…I saw it, I saw everything Hugh saw when his family was killed, that man, the wolf, he was there, He dragged Hugh's sister out of the window of their car, and she fought him, she scratched him in the eye." Kestrel explained quickly and began to stand, Ash grabbed her arm.

"What are you doing?!" Ash demanded as Kestrel tried to run to the wolf, but he had his arms around her quickly and yanked her back. Kestrel elbowed Ash in the gut, and bit his hand, then she took off as fast as she could. She wasn't sure what she was going to do, but she did know she was going to avenge Hugh's loss. Kestrel jumped on the man's back, tackling him to the ground, she flipped him over and pinned him.

"I'm Kestrel Redfern. My soul mate is Hugh Davis. Remember little Hugh?! He was only four when you murdered his family! That little boy you left alive because he was 'too small to eat' Well now I found you! And now I am going to kill you." Kestrel hissed through her teeth, but just when she was about to try and snap his neck she was tackled. A werewolf was on top of her and snapping at her. Kestrel lifted her arms to shield her face, the wolf bite deep into each arm, but she refused to give in and scream into the pain. She kicked the wolf off, and saw Ash get tackled by another wolf. The large man stood and walked over to her, he had two buddies with him.

"Boaz, off her Adahy, Faxon, take her arms. Mars! Subali! Knock out the boy, take him back to base." The man snarled and then the wolf on Ash turned into a man, and another came up behind Ash and hit him in the head with wood, and began dragging him away. Kestrel shrieked his name and began trying to scramble away, but the ones called Adahy and Faxon grabbed her arms when the one called Boaz got off her. They yanked her up to a standing position and held her there. Kestrel glared at the ground and the leader grabbed her chin and yanked her face up so she was looking at him.

"Yah, you're a pretty little hunter aren't you? Even if you are a blood sucker. Four year old you say? Small boy on a camping trip?" The man asked her, the look on her face told him he was right. "Yah, that's the one. I can tell, wow, he was a little odd looking thing at the time, he musta grown handsome to land such a doll. I am Rolon. Leader of a pack, numbers of twenty two. And you must be those day breakers that have been trailing us, oh yes, we know, we curved our diets to put on a little show for you, we know what you had planned. I was going to let you all slide, and leave, but know I think I have other plans, I'll kill that boy, your brother I assume? Ash Redfern, I saw him at a club in Orlando. As for you, well I think I'll decide on you later." Rolon grinned a grin that sickened Kestrel. He looked her up and down and licked his lips. "Take her to the base, put her in the…actually, make sure her brother is in a cell, put her in a guest room, that way they wont know what's going on with the other, and they can not help the other escape." and then Boaz hit Kestrel over the head with wood.

It was hours before Kestrel woke up, and when she did, she was in a room, not an ugly room, but not an exceedingly pretty room either, the walls were white and bland, the bed had plain white sheets, there was a plain wooden vanity with a chair, and a simple dresser, and a vase with some yellow flowers in it on the night stand. Kestrel stood and went to try and open the door, but found it locked. Kestrel banged on the door and jiggled the knob and finally began yelling.

"LET ME OUT! LET ME GO! ASH! AAASSHHH! SOMEONE!…anyone?" Kestrel finally gave up and slid to the floor in front of the door and put her head in her hands. She had gotten her brother knocked out, and captured, and now she was locked in a room and couldn't get out , the entire mission had been ruined because she wanted revenge. Kestrel put her head in her hands and then got up and went and sat on the bed, she laid down and stared at the ceiling trying to think of a plan, the room didn't have a window, what kind of guest room didn't have a window? And it was dark, but since she was a vampire her vision was better in the dark anyway. It was also warm, not overly hot, just…warm. And then it hit her. Under ground. She was under ground, she had to be, no windows, or vents, and no lights? Behind these walls were dirt, but who knows how far down she was? It didn't matter, she had to save Ash, and get back to Hugh.

The door knob jiggled, the sound of keys jingled, and then the door swung open, and of course, it was Rolon. "What do you want?" Kestrel hissed at him with narrowed eyes.

"Now, Now, calm down . One of the pack said you were yelling earlier? What is wrong? I have given you the most comfortable position a prisoner could possibly get, why the long face? Anyway, now, you said you attacked me on behalf of a _vermin_? A Redfern? My, my, it is true then, you Redferns are certainly having trouble, all this talk of loving humans, finding your _soul mates? _Darling, your such a beauty, it's to bad your so delusional, was it that brother of yours? Did he put the idea in your head? Or your cousin maybe? Perhaps those Harmens? Soulmates don't exist love. Perhaps you so easily believed this, because of all that isolation you had in that small village? You were never given the chance to be with a _real _man." Rolon stated smirking as he advanced on her. Kestrel kneed him where the sun don't shine. Rolon groaned and slapped her. "FINE! Have it your own way." he said bitterly and hand cuffed Kestrel to her bed post, with wooden handcuffs. "You will be given a blood bag in an hour." he said then slammed the door shut and locked it as he left.

One hour. That was it, she had one hour to get free of these hand cuffs, and to snap the neck of whoever came to give her the blood, after she did that, she would be unstoppable. Kestrel went to work right away, picking at and pulling and squeezing her hand out of the cuffs. And right before the door opened she slipped it off. The guard was the small wolf from Hugh's memory, she had no trouble breaking his neck and then dropping him to the ground, she drained the blood bag and took a deep breath, she hadn't realized that she was beginning not to be able to breath. She ran down the narrow dirt hallway and was almost up the stairs when she heard a commotion and saw a werewolf fall at her feet, dead. She broke out into a run, the others had undoubtedly found out what happened.

She broke through the door at the top of the stairs and found that Rashel, Quinn, Jez, and Morgead, were indeed fighting, no one seemed to notice her, so she slipped past in the dark and ran to the first door she came to, praying it was the dungeons, and for once, luck was on her side, it was the dungeons. She came in and saw Ash chained to a wall, he was knocked unconscious, and completely covered in blood, but still breathing. Kestrel grabbed the keys off the key chain the werewolf guard had left unattended. _idiot. _she thought and began to unchain Ash, when she saw a shadow out of the corner of her eye. Kestrel slowly turned around and just as she did Rolon attacked her. He was a full wolf, and was not happy, he was growling, and snarling and trying to tear her throat out, Kestrel bit his neck and he howled in pain, the moment of distraction was enough for her to reach in her pocket and pull out a small silver needle, she stabbed it in the wolf's heart as deep as it would go, she then reached in her boot and took out her silver knife, and stabbed his heart again. She quickly started unchaining Ash and let his unconscious body lean on her, goddess he was heavy. She awkwardly grabbed the knife from Rolon's chest and started half dragging Ash back up to the others, the commotion had stopped, had they won? When she got up there, she saw her team staring down a large group of werewolves, as if daring them to make the first move. Kestrel laid Ash on the ground in front of her team and held up the knife facing the wolves.

"I killed your leader. That makes me your new leader, and I demand that you let us go safely, and never hunt another human again. You will all also come to me when I call on you, you could try and defy me, but we all know the magic of your blood forbids you not to follow your pack leader, if you wish to leave, leave now, but after you leave, you will have no fight with us." Kestrel said, everyone stared at her as just about every wolf filed out reluctantly and furiously, all that was left was three werewolves, two boys and a girl, the biggest looked about twenty three and had dark hair, and tanned skin, and dark eyes, the girl looked about her own age, with a lot of small braids, her hair curled at her neck, and her skin was dark she had almost black eyes, and last was a smaller boy, he was slim, and average height for his age of about fifteen, but short for a werewolf, he had light brown hair, pale skin, and green eyes, if he went to school he probably got picked on quiet a bit. "Okay you three? Okay, your all coming with us then, back to circle daybreak, get your things." She commanded and then turned to her team. "You guys as well, Jez Morgead, head back to camp and get our crap, Rashel, you call out and get us Thierry's plane, Quinn, stand guard, I'll make sure Ash heals right." She ordered, and no one argued.

It was amazing how smoothly things went.

"Are you _sure _your okay?!" Hugh demanded on the plane, apparently he had insisted on coming on the jet once he heard there was trouble, he had packed a ton of silver stakes with him as well, he had decided that he would do everything he could to save Kestrel, even if it was physically impossible for him to, he would still make it happen somehow, on sure will power if he had to. He and Kestrel were sitting in their seats beside each other, but Kestrel sat so close to him she was almost on his lap, Hugh's arms wrapped tightly and protectively around her.

"Yes. I'm sure. Hugh, I'm fine, I…I need to show you something, but please, don't be mad" Kestrel said softly, she was afraid of what Hugh was going to say when she let him see how she killed the person who had slaughtered his family. Hugh took a breath and nodded.

"I could never be mad at you" he said and with that Kestrel opened her mind to his, letting him see every part of her adventure, how much she missed him, the longing for him that kept her awake at night, the fight she and Ash had over nothing, how she attacked the murderer, how Ash got beat up and she locked in a room, how she escaped, how she ran to find Ash, how she unchained him and killed the murderer, and took over as the only vampire leader of a wolf pack, that now only consisted of three werewolves, and finally she pulled her mind back so they were facing each other. Hugh winced when he saw what she had done but nodded and then his mind touched hers. She saw him lying awake just like her, missing her, longing for her touch, or even a glimpse, going into her room a lot just to lie on the bed and take in her scent, smelling her, desperate to be close to her, everyone staring at him, as if confused on whether or not they should be happy he had a soul mate or sad she went on a dangerous mission, him ignoring everyone, answering questions with questions, escaping to her room every spare second he had, and saying he loved her over and over to the smell of her, as if saying it to her belongings enough would make them say it back. He pulled his mind away and for a moment they just stared at each other, neither moving, both barley breathing trying to stay in the moment, until finally they said in perfect unison "I love you." and were kissing, mixing themselves up with the other, two becoming one.

**Author's Note: **

**I apologize for this story only being two chapters long, but I will assure you it should not be too big for I plan on making more then just three stories in the book, I am not sure how many yet, but bye the end this book should be a good size, maybe not as long as the original Night World books, but I am trying to get it close, which I personally feel will be fine considering this **_**is **_**only a fan fiction writing and done for the fun of it, if you have any questions about this book, or concerns feel free to private message me and I will get back to you as soon as I possibly can, also if you have any idea's for a story you wish me to write and add in please **_**do **_**private message me it and I will try my absolute best to add it in, I always did like taking requests and have never heard a complaint about how I play your idea's out so I **_**assume **_**that's a good thing. Oh and I also wouldn't mind if you favorite the story, me, followed, and reviewed, So, have a nice day, or night, or evening, or morning! (One last thing, this story idea is mine, not a request, whenever someone requests an idea I'll do a shout out to whoever sent the idea in an author's note, thank you for reading!)**


	3. Found

Night World: Book four (my take): Story two: Found

Chapter One:

Jeanne stood outside the arcade. It was nearly closing time for it, though it was only six P.M. they were closing it early for renovations the next day. Jeanne was seventeen now, the last time she had never set foot in an arcade since she abducted by shape shifters from one when she was fifteen, that was in Oregon, but she had still been uneasy about going into one again. Not today though, today marked two years since she had been taken from the arcade, and once she had been freed and gone with Maggie and Delos to circle Daybreak headquarters she had promised herself she would force herself back into an arcade and play one game. So here she was, staring at it blankly, she was scared, but would never show it.

Jeanne rattled the change in her pocket and stepped inside then took a deep breath. Jeanne closed her eyes feeling shaky then stepped to the closest machine, an Elvis pinball machine. She inserted two quarters and played it for about fifteen minutes then finally lost. She looked around and it was six on the dot, she walked out of the arcade just as the teenage boy from behind the counter was putting up the closed sign, he was probably about nineteen, he had old zit scars and greasy blonde hair but he grinned and winked at her. "Come back anytime, for you I'd prefer after closing if you know what I mean" he said Jeanne simply rolled her eyes and kept walking, why did guys at comic book stores and arcades always say that crap? Jeanne shook her head and kept walking, she would stop by the food court, grab a hot dog and soda, and keep going. It was strange, she had never liked hot dogs before she was taken, but after she lived off oat cakes and dried beef for two years, she couldn't seem to get enough of the hot dogs.

Jeanne happily ate her chili dog as she walked back to the mansion, she had done it, she had faced going to the arcade, all alone. It started drizzling about half way to the mansion, and once she got under the patio of a motel it started to pour. Jeanne sighed, she would walk the rest of the way in the rain. She walked down the concrete under the patio, eating her chili dog and not paying attention when she ran into something and the chili dog smashes into her face covering it in chili, and then it fell down her chest and shirt, completely coating her, same as her soda. Jeanne gasped and started wiping the chili from her face. "Oh my god Miss, I am so sorry! I didn't see you!" exclaimed a frantic deep but amazingly lovely voice that Jeanne could have fallen into and floated in.

"I _think _it was my fault, but I take the apology." Jeanne said sourly, she didn't mean to come off so crossly, but that was just her. She looked up to be looking into cat green eyes of a perfect sized blonde boy, but she couldn't seem to take her eyes away from his eyes. "I-I'm Jeanne" She said. With any other person Jeanne would have picked a fight, but she couldn't bring herself to do that with this boy, half of her wanted to run away as fast as she could, the other half desperately wanted him to say something like what that guy at the arcade said to her, only this time she would accept the offer from this boy, she felt so drawn to him. The boy stared back at her, they both fell silent, just staring.

"oh, I'm Phillip…Phil." the boy said finally… Phillip… Jeanne smiled and nodded, she kept repeating his name in her head. They fell into silence again, just staring at each other, and then she wasn't sure who moved first, but before she knew it they were kissing, and it was not like any experience she had ever felt before, she had kissed several boys before, one before she was kidnapped, and two slave boys, but none compared. It felt as if she had melted into him, as though they had become one, she felt pleasant shocks sending waves through her, but it only intensified the kiss, making her wrap her arms around his neck, and his arms around her waist making her forget completely about how messy she was.

'_Beautiful…such a beautiful name…Jeanne, Jeanne, Jeanne…perfect….' _Jeanne heard the thoughts, but they were not her own, it was Phil's, she could sense his mind wrapping around hers, embracing her, taking all she had seen and done in.

'_Phil, what are you doing? What are you? Are you one of…one of _them_?_' Jeanne asked Phil mentally and could feel him freaking out but trying to hide it from her, Jeanne started exploring his mind searching for an answer. She only got glimpses of things, Phil as a child earning his first A in first grade, Phil becoming class president in fifth grade, Phil becoming school president, and treasurer in middle and high school, Phil excelling in every class and sport he did, Phil becoming home coming and prom king every year in high school, and mixed in a small girl kept coming up, she looked completely differently from him, except the eyes, she was his twin, she had gotten cancer at sixteen and turned into a vampire, Poppy North. And then she saw it. Phil was a witch, a lost witch, recently found, but still he left to stay human.

'_Phil what is this? Can all witches do this?_' Jeanne asked as Phil opened his motel room door behind her, catching her when she nearly fell backwards in then led her to the bed where things got even more intense.

'_I don't know, I guess so, I-I've never done this before though, the head thought thing I mean, I didn't know I could…' _Phil answered and picked through Jeanne's mind just as she had done to him, he saw her has a little girl watching super hero movies with her father, her mother nowhere to be seen, he saw her dad teaching her to play catch and taking her to her first comic con dressed as bat man and bat girl, he saw her getting excited over comic books and obsessing over super hero shows, he saw her go to her favorite comic book shop and arcade, each time returning to a run down neighborhood where everyone knew her and said hello, he saw her being picked on in school for being a "Geek" but instead up getting angry, she rounded up all the other geeks and they all went out for pizza and to the arcade every Saturday, and then he saw her get taken, he saw her working in the dark kingdom, being beaten every time she didn't do well enough or mouthed off, he saw other slaves flirting with her, and watched her slowly become thin and bitter, with a "Kill or be Killed" attitude, then he both saw and felt the tic-tac-toe scars on her back, deep scars that felt like brail and would never leave, a constant reminder of how she nearly escaped dark kingdom, but failed until Maggie came around, and she let Phil see this, she let him see how terrified and hurt she had been, and she didn't even care.

Jeanne woke up the next morning feeling dazed, she couldn't recall anything that had happened after getting her chili dog knocked all over her.

_What happened last night? _She asked herself then thought of those green cat eyes. She sat up quickly and looked around the room. It was a motel room, not to cheap, but not overly expensive, it had a television that was set on the news channel, one bathroom at the end of the room, a small dresser, a little night stand that had a lamp, phone book, telephone, and probably a bible in the drawer just like every other motel and hotel room in the world, there was a chair behind a coffee table and of course the bed she was in. She kept looking though, clothes were strewn all over the furniture and floor, and the bed sheets around her were covered with chili stains. She closed her eyes afraid to look beside her, she held the comforter to her bare chest and slowly turned her head to the side to look at the other side of the bed, she opened her eyes and found herself staring at a shirtless Phil, his eyes closed peacefully, one arm over his head, the other slung off the bed. _God he's beautiful_. She thought to herself then took a breath and lifted the sheets and looked under. She dropped the sheets with wide eyes, yes, she had just had her first time, with a boy named Phil, he had green cat eyes, and was Mr. Perfect, and she would never see him again. Poppy lived all the way across the states, she hardly ever visited this place, so the odd's of seeing Phil again were slim to none, he had probably come to see Poppy, and was heading back to wherever he came from anyway.

Jeanne gulped and took a shaky breath, she climbed out of bed and began re-dressing herself but instead of her shirt she picked up the one Phil had worn the previous night, she smelt it and inhaled the scent, it smelt just like him. She pulled the shirt over her head and then put her shoes on, kissed Phil's forehead and said "Good-bye"

Phil's hand went to where Jeanne had been lying only to not feel anything. He sat up and opened his eyes finding it open. He filled with panic and looked all around the room, her clothes were gone, he checked the bathroom, she was not in there, the only thing she had left behind was a shirt, and she had taken his. He sat on the edge of the bed staring blankly at the shirt, he didn't know what to do. He had come to visit Poppy, and was leaving the next week, but then he met Jeanne, with her red hair and those eyes, green eyes, but instead of cat like they were fierce, like a wild animal ready to pounce, and she did, but not in a bad sense. He had never done anything like that to a girl before, he had had sex before, but never anything even remotely similar to that, it was like he and Jeanne were connected, two halves of the same cookie, two sides of the same coin. Oh god, Jeanne must feel terrible, she must think I used her. _The mansion. _the thought came to him almost immediately, he had seen in her mind that she escaped the kingdom with Maggie and Delos. _I have never met either of them, but Poppy mentioned them and how Delos was deeply fascinated with the toaster, even if they weren't at the mansion, the people there would know where to find Maggie and Delos, and they would know where to find my Jeanne. _Phil thought and then smiled as he instantly got up and began packing his things and getting dressed, he hurried out the motel room, and got in his car as fast as he could. _My Jeanne…My Jeanne…_My_ Jeanne. _Phil grinned at the thought, the idea that Jeanne could potentially be _his_ would mean the world to him, he felt as though he would do anything for her, no matter how hard or ridiculous, hell, he would do the chicken dance, wearing a bunny suit, to the hokey pokey music on New York boulevard if it would please her. He drove faster, he felt desperate to get to the mansion now.

Jeanne lay in her bed staring at the ceiling. _had last night meant this to him to? _she asked herself, twirling her fingers around the edge of the shirt, all she wanted at that moment was to see Phil's face, just a glimpse, she thought that if she could see him just one more time it would change everything, but she knew it wouldn't. He was a lost witch who wanted to play human and lived in California, she was a former Night World slave human who was kidnapped from her family and could never go back, and all she wanted now was to survive, and to do that, she had to stay part of the Night world, fighting with circle daybreak to receive their protection in return. Jeanne pulled the top of the shirt over her nose inhaling the scent again, she had been doing that a lot today, in fact that's _all _she had done that day, she couldn't seem to drag herself from bed, even when she returned to the mansion and several people asked her if she was okay and what happened to her, she didn't respond.

She had walked through the mansion doors, and Maggie, Delos, Poppy, and James were standing somewhat apart, but whispering frantically to some circle Day break agents about how Phil had not shown up and how she had been missing all night.

"No No, he's blonde, look here's a picture of him, Phillip North, he's a lost witch, but he likes to play human, he was only coming to visit me, but I think h-he might have been caught! He could be being tortured right now!" Poppy said frantically to a vampire who looked to be in his mid forties but who knew how old he really was. James took Poppy's hand and wrapped an arm around her, Poppy turned and whimpered into his chest.

"Jeanne, yes, her, she's gone missing, and look I know she isn't your favorite person, but please Jez that's only because of how alike you are…or well…if you were just a little bit more heartless that is…" Maggie was trying to convince Jez into going out to find Jeanne, but then Maggie turned when she heard the door open and hurried over to Jeanne. "Jeanne! What happened?! Are you okay?! _Who's_ shirt is that?!" Maggie bombarded her with question's but Jeanne simply shoved past her and headed up the stair's stopping in her tracks when she heard Poppy.

"That's Phil's shirt! She's seen Phil! Jeanne!" Poppy called and began following Jeanne up the stairs. "Jeanne! Is he okay? And how did you wind up with his shirt? Straight laced good old Phil never lends shirts to girls, not that he has ever needed to, the one girl he _did _sleep with brought her clothes with her" Poppy said getting off track but then shook her head. "did you see him or not?!" she called, but Jeanne did not even turn, she just started walking again, not answering, but also not feeling like she was there in the first place, she felt like she was far away, far away with Phil, happy with Phil. And that was all that was to it, that was how she ended up in her bed.

There was a soft knock at the door, but the follower did not wait for a response before coming in. it was Poppy, she walked right in and sat on the end of Jeanne's bed. Poppy tapped her clicked her tongue as though thinking on how to bring something up.

"Look Jeanne, I know we haven't exactly had a lot of talking time, but please, I need to know, did you see my brother? If you _did_, what happened? And is he okay?" Poppy asked finally and Jeanne kept staring at the ceiling.

"Yes, I saw your brother. I ran into him and got chili dog and soda all over myself then had sex with him then I took his shirt and left. And I _assume_ he's okay, there aren't many guys that wouldn't be okay with sleeping with a random pretty face and waking up without her as baggage so he can go grab another one." Jeanne said trying to sound like it didn't matter, but her voice betrayed her and cracked. Poppy looked over startled.

"Phil isn't like that. You _really _slept with him? And he didn't stop you? Wow, how long did you two hang out the other day? Phil didn't date a lot of girls out of respect for them, and he dated one and made her wait three years before finally giving in and letting her…you know what with him, and I bet Phil is looking everywhere for you right now, he wouldn't just let you go after that. are _you _okay?" Jeanne finally looked at Poppy, her eyes were his eyes and it nearly broke Jeanne's heart, but she did realize it skipped a beat when Poppy had said he was probably looking for her. _What if he is? What if he's not? Oh what do I care, he's just some random guy that I happened to bump into, it doesn't matter. _Jeanne decided and sat up, her face expressionless.

"Yes. I'm fine, it meant nothing to me, now I'm hungry." Jeanne said and stood up, she had just lied through her teeth, she _wasn't_ fine, it meant _everything_ to her, and if she _ate_ she would vomit. But still she got up and walked down the steps just as the door bell rang and Poppy bolted past her and opened the door, and who would stand there, then the boy with blonde hair, a perfect figure, and eyes that made Jeanne's voice catch in her throat, Phillip North.

Poppy practically jumped in his arms, but Phil was not looking at her, he was gazing past Poppy, up the stairs, and his eyes found Jeanne, standing there, still in his shirt that was way to big for her, her angular face and green eyes staring right at him. Phil gently squeezed Poppy's arm then brushed past her and walked up the steps meeting Jeanne on them, he didn't tear his gaze from her for even a moment. He was taller then Jeanne, but she herself was about average height so he wasn't much taller, but he did need to tilt his head down, and hers tilted up for them to be able to continue staring into the other's eyes. They both stayed silent, but it was not an awkward silence, it was a comfortable one, where neither of them minded not talking, neither willing to break the moment. Phil reached out and stroked Jeanne's cheek with his fingers, both of them held their breath as they felt the same sparks that triggered the actions of the night before.

"Phil?" came a voice behind him and he took his gaze from Jeanne and turned to look at Poppy, he dropped his hand, not wanting to think _thoughts _about Jeanne when looking at his sister, something about it just didn't seem right to him.

"Yah?" was Phil's response, he got a sideways glance at James, who stood there with a malicious smirk on his face, James and Phil had never gotten along, but it didn't make sense on why James had that look now, and Poppy looked troubled.

"Are you okay?" she asked putting a hand on his arm, she was so small.

"I'm…perfect" he got out realizing just how true it was, before he entered the mansion in search of Jeanne he was freaking out, panicking, _what if she isn't there? Or what if she doesn't want to see me? _he kept questioning himself, playing out scenes of how bad things could end up, it always came back to her leaving him, determined that the other night meant nothing and she never wanted to see him again, it nearly made him sick to think about, but now that he had come, and the first sight he saw was Jeanne on the stairs, staring at him with a longing expression on her face, and still in his t-shirt, he knew that the night together had meant _everything _to her, and even if she didn't admit it, she wanted him as much as he wanted her, and finding that out, made his life perfect.

"Can James and I talk to you? It's important, and we can show you where your room is, uh James, grab Phil's bag!" Poppy said quickly and began pulling Phil from Jeanne. Phil almost tried to jerk away, but then thought better of it and followed Poppy, turning to stare at Jeanne as he left until Poppy made him round the corner and pulled him towards one of the spare rooms. She opened the door and Phil followed her into a good sized room, there was one double bed, long golden curtains with silver trimmings, a desk, a dresser, night stand, a cozy looking chair beside a love seat and coffee table in the middle of the room, and a flat screen television and his own bathroom and good sized closet. James came in a second later and dumped Phil's bags in the middle of the floor, deliberately dropping one of the bags upside down knocking out his toiletries. _Missed you to jack ass. _Phil thought and shook his head then sat on the chair. Poppy and James took the love seat and stared for a moment before Poppy finally spoke up.

"Phil, what happened with Jeanne? It's never been like you to just pick up some random girl and take her back to your hotel room, and then that same girl keep your shirt? And not to mention she just _happens_ to live here? I went up and talked to her, she seemed almost heart broken, and now you completely blow me off and…your not listening even now!" Poppy squealed and James rubbed her arm and grinned.

"Poppy, your better at telepathy then I am, and he's your twin, he's broadcasting it, he just doesn't know what it is, it's his soul mate, of all the people in the world _he _got a soul mate, the guy who _never _wanted to have _anything _to do with the Night World, the guy who was _always _in control of _every _situation, the most human of all humans in the world, met his soul mate and lost _all _control! And no, not just to _any _other human, he got the one that knows _everything _about the night world, even the hidden kingdoms, who was in fact a slave, and will never be able to walk the streets without a night person trying to trail or attack her again, who can't live a normal life anymore, hell, she's probably only in circle daybreak to learn how to murder the bad night people, ironic right?" James laughed and rubbed his forehead, Phil almost wanted to punch him. He was right though, Phil _didn't _want to be part of the night world, and Jeanne was human, but even if she _wanted _to be part of the human world again, she couldn't, not with everything she had seen, done, and that happened to her, to much had happened to her to pretend she was still part of the human world, he already knew she picked up animal qualities after she had been captured, the years teaching her to be as silent and sly as a cat, but as vicious as a raccoon, and strong as a bull, and all those scars, some from vampire fangs, some from just being punished, there was no rational way to explain to people how she got the scars, especially the ones on her back, and either way, Phil had a feeling Jeanne didn't want to leave the night world, it had become part of her life, part of _her_. It was Phil that was going to have to join, but maybe he didn't have to join, maybe he could still act human, pretend to be a human who just happened to live with vampires, witches and god knows what else. And the crazy thing was, that after how clear he made it two years ago when he found out about all of this that he didn't want to be part of this world, the moment he met Jeanne's eyes, he changed his mind, because all he wanted now was to be with her, all that mattered was Jeanne.

Jeanne was left gasping on the stairs, staring at the way Phil had left through. Jeanne saw Maggie smiling in that kind way, she met Maggie's eyes and they said 'I understand' but Jeanne wasn't sure she did, Maggie had always trusted people, Jeanne had never, Phil had scene her entire life, she let him make her feel vulnerable, and loved, and safe with him, and she _liked _it, but she knew that was wrong. Trusting people only got you hurt, she trusted Jimmy akins when he said he would meet her at the arcade, he didn't show up, and she got kidnapped, she trusted that slave boy who ratted her out when she ran away, no, she couldn't let Phil do this to her, she had to stay behind her brick wall, he had already caused a lot of collateral damage to it, he wouldn't destroy more. It tore her heart out to leave, but she didn't want to fall in love and be weak, she was Jeanne _North_. The name rung in her head, it didn't sound to bad, but that was _him _not _her,_ and yet, it felt so right. Jeanne shook her head and ran down the steps, she grabbed the car keys to Thierry's ford, he wouldn't miss it, and went to the garage. And left.

Jeanne drove for what felt like hours, her chest aching, and a voice in her mind telling her to go back to Phil and never leave again. But she just kept going, that is until several figures appeared in the road, Jeanne swerved and screamed as she ran into a tree, her head banged onto the steering wheel, and she was out.

Jeanne woke up hours later, groggy, her vision blurry. She blinked a few times and groaned, she tried to move, but found that she couldn't. she looked around, her arms were chained over her head, and she was standing, well more like hanging, against a wall, the floor was dirt, the walls were brick, and there was an iron cell door. _Am I being sold to slavery _again? She asked herself and let out a frustrated sigh. There were three other people in the cell, two girls and one boy, one of the girls chained up like her, she had brown hair, with fair skin that reminded Jeanne of mashed potato's with the color, she was pretty Jeanne supposed and looked almost eighteen, the other girl had black hair, and dark chocolate skin, she was small and her arms and legs were chained together, and onto the ground she looked about twelve, and the boy had to be nineteen or twenty, he was slim but had defined muscles, he had blonde hair, a big nose, and paled skin, everything about him screamed 'cold' and the expression on his face was enough to kill the fiercest pack of wolverines on-sight, his hands were chained, and his feet were stuck in what looked like wooden stocks for your feet. The dark girl was passed out, and the girl beside her seemed to mortified to talk.

"Hey, you, big nose, where are we?" Jeanne demanded in something like a whisper.

"My _name _is _Jed_. You _butchered_ animal. And _we _are in a cell getting ready to be sold into _slavery_" he hissed at her in the same vicious manner any slave would. "And don't bother telling me who _you _are, your Jeanne, you helped the 'savior' free all those slaves in the dark kingdom, yes I know, I was one at a kingdom in the rocky mountains, I think that's where they are taking us, I managed to get out once, but the slave traders recognized me immediately, I was the first slave to _ever _get out of Doswin, that's the kingdom, and they want me back." he explained trying to squirm his feet from the stocks.

"Is there any hope of getting out?" Jeanne asked but already knew the answer was no.

"You know there isn't, they say you met the savior while running away but you got caught, you know how hard it is, especially not with these to, that girl is passed out, and the other is so mortified she can hardly blink, maybe the two of us can get out though… next time they bring the food don't eat it, it's drugged, and either way it's only chicken broth anyway, not even chicken or noodles, I'll use my spoon to pick my lock, then I'll help you, we have to leave these two though. Got it?" he asked, his dark eyes intense, like an animal calculating how to free himself from a trap.

Jeanne didn't need to think twice before saying "Deal." she didn't care about the two girls being left behind, she might have even left Maggie behind if she had to, in fact she _did _leave Maggie behind once, it was just a chance meeting that she bumped into Maggie again, and this boy clearly knew what was going on, and how to escape, but he would need her help, if they had to fight, it was better two then one, alone he wouldn't be able to take on even one bird shifter, and neither would she, but together maybe it could work, they could help each other.

Rane sat at her vanity seemingly lost at thought. Her fair blonde hair was pinned up behind her tiara, her heart shaped face expressionless, and her big clear blue eyes intent, her light blue robe wrapped tight around her. This was how it had been every morning for a year, ever since _he _came after her father had been poisoned by wood, but not dead yet, her mother was out of the picture long ago, Rane never had found out what happened to her. Rane had considered many options, _maybe she died, maybe she didn't want Rane and left, maybe she was banished? _but it always came back to her deciding that her mother was dead, it was the easiest way to handle it.

The figure in the large bed behind her stirred, it's long fingered hand stretched out and ran down the area of where Rane had slept, then sighed and sat up, his red hair ruffled, his build strong, his golden eyes ever so slightly narrowed. "Thinking again, Princess?" said his deep voice. The man was maybe in his mid to late twenties but he was a vampire around five hundred years old, he was the care taker of the throne, after her father was poisoned he had come to watch over the throne of Doswin until she was ready, Ran was a lamia herself, but she was only seventeen, and had been cast under the charm's of the man.

"As Queen it is my _job_ to think, you know that as well as I do." Rane replied diplomatically and the man stood up, put on his own dark red robe and strode over behind her, he rested his hands on Rane's shoulders and gently massaged them.

"Even you are entitled to sleep, and _enjoy _yourself, my dear, which you should do now before the King is finally dead and you are to take over, just let me do all the thinking for you until it is time" He murmured in her hear, so close she could feel his lips.

"As Queen-" she tried to say but the man was quick to cut her off, his hands now gripping hard on her shoulders.

"But you are _not_ Queen! _No_t yet. And it would be _wise_ of you to remember so, as _I_ am still in charge here." The man said bitterly and then released her shoulders. Rane pushed her chair back as she stood and whirled around to face him.

"How _dare _you speak to your princess in such a manner! You may be the throne care taker, but _I_ am it's rightful ruler, _I _am the one the people bow down to! _Not _you!" Rane exclaimed angrily and lifted her hand to strike him, but the man caught her wrist with an iron grip, and smiled. He pulled Rane towards him and wrapped his arms around her waist so she could not escape him. Rane drew herself closer and smiled back placing her hands on his chest, she only came up to his chest, so she had to look upward and he downward so they could see each other "you could charm a pigeon into falling in love with a tiger _Hunter Redfern"_

Phil walked towards where Poppy had said Jeanne's room was. He started to get a sinking feeling in his stomach as he neared it, like something wasn't right and by the time he was right in front of the door he was completely panicked and practically bust the door open. He looked around. She wasn't there. Phil turned and ran all the way down the stairs to the kitchen and still nothing. '_JEANNE! JEANNE?! WHERE ARE YOU?! ARE YOU OKAY?!' _he decided now was the best time to figure out how far away his telepathy with her could work, he was breathing hard, and his brain was scattered with thoughts.

'_Phil? Phil, calm down, I'm okay, so far, listen to me- CALM DOWN. I am about to be sold into slavery to a kingdom in the Rocky mountains called Doswin, get a team together, there are three other people here, one girl is unconscious, another has gone into shock, but there's a boy named Jed who escaped once, he's going to try to help me escape now, but I don't know if we can do it, we have not been moved yet, were in a holding cell, and Phil, I don't want you to come get me, you'll be in danger, just get the team, tell them where I crashed Thierry's ford which is right off the rout of 67, and please hurry!' _Jeanne's voice told him. She didn't want him to come. She wanted to keep him safe. Phil didn't care, he was in love with her, he didn't trust anyone else to return her safely, he was going to get a team, and he was going to go with them. End of story, he didn't care how much she hated him when she saw him, but he was going to rescue her.

Phil ran through the house calling for everyone he knew "POPPY! JAMES! ASH! DELOS! MAGGIE!" which was pretty much everyone he knew the name of, and they all came running down to him hearing the frantic tone in his voice. "She was taken! Jeanne! They took her! She said she's being sold into slavery again! She said to go to where she crashed Thierry's car off rout 67, maybe there will be a clue she said to hurry!" Phil yelled, he didn't mean to shout at them, but he was already so scared of what could be happening to his precious Jeanne.

Poppy and Maggie gasped, and then James looked between Phil and Poppy. "KESTREL! ROWAN! GET JEZ AND MORGEAD PACK SOME THING'S AND MEET ME IN THE GARAGE!" James yelled and then looked to the rest of the group "Ash kiss Mare good-bye, were going to be gone a while" James said then looked at Phil. "Phil were going to get Jeanne, get your things, and some of hers, she'd probably like something to change in once we get there, Poppy get my things please, I'm going to go figure out the car situation" he said and everyone dispersed. Phil ran up to his room, grabbed his bag then hurried into Jeanne's, and stopped. _what does Jeanne like to wear? _he asked himself the only answer he got was _my shirt. _and he sighed at that, he went to her closet and grabbed several pairs of sweat pants, she seems like someone who likes comfort, he also grabbed some t-shirts, a hair brush, other toiletries and some feminine products just in case, and then he awkwardly grabbed random under clothes from her drawers.

He was the last one to the garage, and James cleared his throat, he had apparently taken the roll of leader, which Phil was fine with considering the options, Poppy who diffidently didn't qualify, Ash who kid-napped his sister the year before, Maggie who he didn't really know, Delos who he had seen taking apart a remote trying to figure out how it worked, Morgead who looked as though he belonged in a nut house for psycho's, Jez who looked like a total biker and probably anger problems, Rowan who he had met a few times, but was relatively to nice to make any hard decisions, and Kestrel who was leaned against the blonde haired boy with a limp and gazing up at him as if he were some sort of a super hero, and looking at everyone else as though she wished them all to drop dead.

"Okay there are nine of us, so some of us will take the Mustang, the others will take the suburban, Morgead, you and I will drive, you take the Mustang with Jez, Delos, and Maggie, I'll take Poppy, Rowan, Kestrel, and Phil." he said in a matter of fact way that under any other circumstances would have annoyed the hell out of Phil. They all piled their things in the trunks and piled into the cars, Kestrel was the last to get in, she was busy making out with the blonde boy, if Phil hadn't known better he would have been positive they were trying to swallow each other, Kestrel finally pulled from the boy and got in the car, but rolled the window down.

"I'll miss you Hugh, I love you, I took some of your shirts, so don't worry about them" she said and kissed the boy one last time, he stepped back and James drove the car out as fast as he could. Morgead right behind them. Phil kept thinking back to Kestrel and the blonde boy. _would he and Jeanne be that way? So attached to each other they couldn't even really say good-bye, and wouldn't let go of the other till they were driving away, would she take my shirt's? would they stay up late holding each other and talking, sleeping in on the mornings, and making love all night? _God he hoped so.

Poppy sat up front with James, which was no real surprise, Phil and Rowan took the seats behind James and Poppy, and behind them were Ash and Kestrel who were bickering none stop.

"Ash is touching me!" Kestrel complained to Rowan and James, and Phil could see James's eyebrows crease in frustration with the two.

"I am not! _She _is touching _me!_" Ash said loudly and he and Kestrel began arguing over this now. Phil was both annoyed and fascinated, he and Poppy had never argued like that, but maybe that is because they were twins, but Kestrel and Ash acted as though the very sight of the other set off a time bomb.

"Guys stop, this is serious, Jeanne is in trouble, how could you all argue?" Rowan said finally and Ash and Kestrel got quiet, but Phil saw in the rear view mirror that Ash had stuck his tongue out at Kestrel, Kestrel whacked his arm, and he tugged her hair, she hit him on the forehead and then they were at it again. Phil thought about this, and then realized that it was only half about them annoying the crude out of each other, but the other half was that everyone else could bring their soul mates along, and they couldn't, they were frustrated and Kestrel especially probably missed the boy called Hugh, and so they were looking for an outlet and they just happened to be next to each other.

It was amazing how quickly Jed picked the lock on his bounds with a spoon, Jeanne thought. She tilted her head and watched in amazement, it had been several hours they had to wait to get the spoon, but it was worth it, and in the mean time, Jeanne was surprised to see just how alike she and Jed were, he like her, had tried to escape the kingdom several times, and was punished severely for it, only his markings were on his stomach, it was a large O with one line going right across the middle horizontally and another going down vertically, then another line in the upper right hand corner, he had said that it was a particular marking made for slaves who had escaped before, and needed to be watched closely, they were as deep, and brail like as her own, Jeanne learned that if a slave had stolen from the royal family or any nobles, or even refused to do their work, they would be sentenced to death in Doswin, but not just any death, they would have their mouths sewn shut, their fingers and toes were cut off, and they were chained to a silver platter, and were served on the dinner table with the rest of the feast that took place, served as a roasted pig, only alive, and when this was done, the other slaves were the ones forced to prepare the slave, just like the rest of the food. This sickened Jeanne, in the Dark kingdom, this was never done, if a slave stole, they were simply beaten and locked into a jail cell left to die or heal.

Jed looked up and caught Jeanne looking at him. "What?" he asked in his deep, rough voice before standing and beginning to work on her own chains. She fell forward and crashed into him then pushed back and shrugged.

"Nothing, just what you told me, at my old kingdom they never served humans alive on platters like that, why would they do it? Did the princess ever know?" Jeanne asked rubbing her wrists slightly, Jed took her hands and inspected her wrists for a moment, then apparently decided they would be fine and dropped them.

"Maybe they wanted to get the message across. And yes, the princess knows, she never ordered anything, but she never prevented it either, always just watched" Jed said and Jeanne looked confused.

"I thought her parents were dead, doesn't that make her in charge?" Jeanne asked as Jed sat and started trying to pry the wood from his stocks off the ground, they were dead bolted there.

"No. no one knows what happened to her mother, but her father was poisoned by wood, he's dying slowly, but as long as he's alive the throne care taker is taking care of everything, a little more then he should at that" he glanced up at Jeanne with a vicious smirk that made Jeanne just had to ask.

"What do you mean 'a little more then he should'?"

"Well, he and the princess take leave to the same room at night" he said bitterly, with a cold hard look on his face that Jeanne couldn't exactly read, but knew enough that something happened with him, and it was not up for discussion. Jeanne got silent and stretched a little, then began trying to help pry the wood, which eventually did come up. Jed looked at her then reluctantly handed it to her. "Are you strong enough to hold this? It's heavy." he said and Jeanne nodded, her slave muscles had never left her. "Okay, I'll try to pull out the chains over there, when the guard comes back, I'll trip him, and you hit him in the head with the wood, then we run." Jed decided for the both of them, Jeanne didn't really mind though, it wasn't like she had any better ideas, if it had been up to her they would still be chained up and then headed to the kingdom. Jeanne kept watching Jed amazed with him, he was strong, real strong, and smart, after the years of slavery he had went through, he still had the drive to get himself free, it was like he didn't know the meaning of giving up. "Your really strong" Jeanne stated without meaning to."

"it was my job to carry potato sacks, feed sacks, and shovel out hay, and dung from the barns, heavy lifting" he said not really paying her attention as he pulled the chain out of the wall.

"No! No! NO! This is _ALL _wrong! We are having a grand ball to celebrate the princess's birthday! _Not _a picnic around a trash bin!" Hunter shouted at the slaves, who were hastily beginning to re-do whatever mistakes they made. Rane sat in her throne with her head held high, though staying silent, letting Hunter make all the arrangements. He was good at hiding what he called his love for her, he had told her that he loved her, but since her father was still alive, and he was only the thrones care taker, it would be inappropriate to marry her, they would wait until her father was dead, but Rane was growing more un-easy about the plan every day, not because of the marriage, she loved Hunter, and He loved her, he had said they were meant to be, but about her fathers death, when he was originally poisoned, he should have recovered, but Hunter saw his chance when he returned, he had said that her fathers slow death would ensure them protection, he said if it looked natural that her fathers body acted worse to the wood poisoning then normal from his physical age of fifty-two, then no one would suspect that it was she who ground up bits of wood in her fathers blood, and Hunter who was intentionally messing with the witches treatments for the wood. But now Rane feared about them indeed getting caught, what of someone saw either one of them messing with the things? What would they do? The closest royal family would dethrone her, and have Hunter executed. The thing was though, every time she thought of Hunter being killed, she knew she should care, but she didn't, not even a little, every time she even thought of Hunter, it wasn't his face that popped up, it was that slave boy who she met when she was young.

She had gone out riding, she was only twelve at the time. She was not supposed to be riding that day, and she was wearing her best tea dress, but she wanted to go so badly that she snuck out of the castle and went into the stables. She struggled to get her dark brown horse Lakia out of it's stall and saddle it, there was a slave boy working in there at the time, he was sixteen, and shoveling hay, paying her no attention. "You there! Saddle this horse, get her out of the stall, and help me onto her." Rane commanded the boy, who turned and scowled but silently settled the horse and pulled it from the stall, he easily lifted Rane onto the horse, and Rane kicked the horse's sides and ran off. Rane jumped repeatedly, that was her favorite part, jumping, and she was good at it, but it was almost as if fate was at play when her horse missed a jumped, Lakia's front legs caught on the rail she had been jumping, the horse flipped completely upside down, throwing Rane off, making her hit her head on the wooden post, and then landing on top of Rane, Lakia struggled to get off for a moment, but blood surrounded Rane and Lakia from Lakia's head, Lakia had hit her head on the metal rail, then scrapped it across a screw as she fell, and Rane's head was aching and bleeding from the wood post as well Rane had been trapped under the body, afraid, and still unsure of what had happened. And then the slave boy was there, he was lifting Lakia's body, using all his strength, then dropped it beside Rane. Rane's vision blurred, but the slave was clearly looking down at her, and his face was the only clear thing she saw, his blonde hair was a halo around him, his intense blue eyes wide with shock and something like concern, his pale skin almost glowing in the light around him, and his big nose close to her face as he lifted her.


	4. Found Chapter 2

Night World: Book four (my take): Story two: Found

Chapter Two:

"NOW!" Jed yelled as he tripped the guard and Jeanne jumped out from the side and hit him with the wood piece. Unfortunately the guard turned out not to be the earlier one, this one was a werewolf and it only angered him. He turned and growled and grabbed Jeanne by the hair, he shoved her head against the stone wall and Jeanne passed out. Jed tried to grab for the chain but the guard hit him as well.

Jeanne woke up in a bed made from hay. She quickly sat up and looked around, she saw Jed laying on the hay beside her, and on another pile sat a girl around fourteen, she was blonde, with big green eyes, she could have been pretty, but she was so mal-nourished her skin was dry, her eyes had heavy dark rings under them, and she would have made a perfect skeleton, the boy beside her looked a little better, not a lot, but he was probably about Jed's age, with Spanish tanned skin, he was tall, and skinny, with dark eyes and curled black hair, and heavy bags under his eyes, and he had defined muscles like Jed's, the girl only wore what looked like a potato sack as a sort of ugly dress, and the boy wore no shirt, only a pair of small shorts also made from potato sack, neither wore shoes. "You have slept for a long time, I guess it is all well, the longer you sleep, the less work you have, but now you are awake, you must change, here, and do not worry, you were lucky, they branded you in your sleep already, we only have a little time before we begin work, me and you feed the animal's, and keep things tidy in here, the boys work on the hay, Jed knows, he was here once, he escaped, I am Gloria, this is Diego" The girl said in a soft rushed voice and pointed to herself, then Diego. "Oh no, don't worry about Diego, we all change together all the time, it's no matter" Gloria said after she handed Jeanne the potato sack dress and saw her looking between Diego and it. Jeanne changed and winced as the sack scratched against her back _Oh how familiar. _Jeanne thought cynically and looked around them, it was just a stall in a barn, only instead of the stall being made from wood, it was stone, with a metal door, Jeanne pushed it slightly, it was locked, she stood and peered over the side while standing on her toes, lots of horses, cows, and other animals, all in stalls like them, kept like animals, at least at Delos's kingdom they got quarters. She caught a glimpse outside, it wasn't dark like at black dawn, it was bright, and sunny, and it actually felt kind of warm.

Jeanne sat back down and looked around at them all, and Jed began to stir, he was already changed, _did he wake up before me? _she thought and cocked her head to the side as he sat up, she saw on his back he had a bright red burn mark on his shoulder, it looked like a tear drop with two crescent moons connected and facing away from each other._ "Do_ I have that mark?" She asked reaching out to touch it, and Jed shuddered.

"Yes." he mumbled groggily.

"When did you wake up?" Jeanne asked and bit her lower lip.

"Right before they marked us" he said with a shrug and looked at Diego. "When did she wake up?" he asked in his rough voice.

"Just a few minutes ago" Diego had a thick Spanish accent that made her wonder how he had ended up here in the first place. Diego caught Jeanne looking at him for the second time and rolled his eyes "I was dating a werewolf girl, we were visiting her family for Christmas, I found out her secret, she brought me here" he said simply. "What's your name?"

Jeanne opened her mouth to answer but Jed beat her to it. "She's Jeanne, she helped the savior at the dark kingdom, and you guys need to help me get up to the princess's room, when she isn't in there with Hunter" Jed said quickly with a mad look in his eyes.

"How on earth could we do that? We never leave the barn, you're the only one that ever left, and that was years ago when the princess fell off her horse, we can't help you." Diego said with what almost seemed like a mad respect in his voice if that makes any sense. Jed smirked and Diego smirked back, it was almost as though they were exchanging a silent message. "Perhaps, Wes could help you, he could take you back in an animal feed sack, say it's a delivery, so you could get into the castle, then the slave that delivers things could take you up…why would you need to see her though?" Diego asked, but Jed did not answer this, his eyes darkened and his expression was just as it was when Jeanne had asked about the princess earlier.

The door to the stall opened up, a guard was there, and he pulled Jeanne roughly out by her arm and tossed heron the stone floor, then did the same with Jed, Gloria, and Diego. "Get to work scrubs! The Lord will be out in a bit for his ride with the princess, he requested the princess's saddle be cleaned, she is wearing her best riding gown, don't reckon they'll forgive ye, for ruining the dress, it _was _a gift from the lord himself" the Guard spoke in an old fashioned way, this kingdom was so much like Delos's, and yet much crueler. He left then, probably going to get other slaves up for their work.

Gloria showed Jeanne where she kept the cleaning supplies and gave Jeanne the princess's horse saddle to clean and polish while Gloria fed the animals, and Jed and Diego began their work of shoveling hay, dung, and moving animals out of the way, then they all milked the cows, then Diego and Jed sent Jeanne and Gloria to collect eggs from the hen house while Jed and Diego moved a pig to a separate pen for other slaves to collect, it was an organized way of letting them know the pig was ready for death. When Jeanne and Gloria returned they put the eggs in a bucket for the collector to come get, and then got back to work on cleaning the barn, Jeanne thought it was ridicules, it was a barn, how clean did it need to be? Apparently spotless. Diego and Jed began working on repairs, fixing stall doors, and such, and by this time it was almost one judging by the direction of the sun, and that's when they came in.

Jeanne's breath caught in her throat when she saw the blazing red hair of Hunter Redfern, and she saw Jed had stopped working and was gazing at the small beautiful blonde girl walking behind Hunter, her face was heart shaped, and her skin fair, she had big clear blue eyes, and her hair was up in a bun, with a tiara that had blue sapphires jeweled into it she couldn't be more then fifteen or sixteen, her gown was also beautiful, it was the same blue as the sapphires on her tiara, long, and old fashioned like the gowns at the dark kingdom, it had long sleeves, and even a riding cape, and both had black laced trip, even here riding gloves matched perfectly. Jeanne ducked behind a stall trying to hide from hunter, surely he would recognize her, but it didn't make sense, he was _dead._ Jeanne had watched Delos vaporize him with her own eyes! Jeanne glanced back at Jed in alarm, but he was still staring at the princess, gazing at her as though he had never seen a female before, like the princess was the only creature on earth that mattered to him, like how Phil had stared at _her. _Jeanne's eyes widened, that was it, Jed was in love with her, but that didn't even make sense, of all the people in the world, the human slave boy was in love with the cruel princess who would have him executed if she caught him staring, but she didn't. Jeanne watched the princess enter, and watched as the princess's eyes flew up and met Jed's directly, they stared for a long moment, while Hunter was picking a horse for himself, he caught Jed staring at the princess, and his face went cold.

"Boy, saddle this horse, and help the princess up, immediately, then get that black one over there" hunter pointed to a lovely white horse then a black one. Jed tore his gaze away from the princess and put the jewel encrusted saddle that Jeanne had cleaned earlier that day on the white horse and started pulling it from the stall, then began doing the same with the black horse, in the mean time Hunter had turned to the princess.

"My princess, you look as though you've seen a ghost, are you well?" he asked, in a caring voice that only Jeanne seemed to know was fake.

"I am well Hunter" the princess replied in a clipped tone, Hunter took her face in his hands, and tilted her head back, the princess closed her eyes, and for the briefest second Jeanne saw a look flash across Hunter's face that she couldn't pin, no one else seemed to notice, but all Jeanne could tell that whatever it was, it wasn't any form of love. Hunter bent and kissed the princess lightly on the lips but for a long minute, but Jeanne noted that the princess didn't seem to be moving or kissing back. Jeanne turned towards Jed, he had completely stopped working, and was watching Hunter and the princess with a look of pure hurt, and something like hatred, but mixed in with love so strong he could never hate the princess, and he had already forgiven her, but he was still hurt, and hated Hunter. Hunter pulled apart from the princess and straightened himself. The princess licked her lips and looked at the ground, Hunter closed his large hands around her small delicate ones.

"Something is wrong…Ah yes your birthday celebration, I suppose that's only natural, it is not every day a girl turns seventeen" Hunter smiled and climbed onto his black horse, and began leading it out, not turning to see if the princess was even ready, he simply expected her to follow. The princess looked over at Jed, they locked eyes again, and Jeanne saw the princess's expression was the same as Jed's, longing, sad, and madly in love with the other. They said nothing as Jed moved and helped the princess on her horse, they didn't take their eyes away from the others, and once the princess was on the horse Jed held her hand tenderly in his. The princess's lips trembled, her eyes looked watery, and her breathing was deep, Jed's eyes were red rimmed with desperation, he took the princess's hand and kissed her wrist. "Rane, I'll come to you by moonlight, _you must be alone." _Jed said urgently and the princess nodded, then kicked off her horse to catch up with Hunter.

"What was that about?!" Jeanne demanded from Jed, popping back up from behind the stall. Jed walked around to continue his work, Gloria and Diego were also staring. Jed looked down, he was caught, and he couldn't hide anymore.

"Years ago, the princess fell from her horse, I carried her into the castle, she needed healing, but something happened, I had never cared for her before, but once I touched her, I couldn't resist her, I tried to though, but she made it hard, I was only sixteen, she was only twelve, but still, the age differences were to much, not to mention I am a human slave, and she's a lamia princess, it can never work, but still she came here every day, it was before you and Gloria worked here" He said gesturing to Diego and Gloria then continued. "She would spend hours in here watching me work, making me work, coming up with things on end for me to do so she could stay longer, she would make me move pigs, and try to milk cows that had already been milked, insisting that they still had a little left in them, they never did, she made me move hay stakes and move them back, saying they looked better else where, and finally when she spotted someone coming to look for her, she made me saddle up her horse and help her on it, then she would ride out and tell whoever had come her she was simply taking a ride, if they questioned how long she had been missing she would make up some story on how she had come in and not seen me working, or doing something wrong, so she had to stay and make sure I kept my work up correctly, she got me thrashed and beaten countless times she did, but I still looked forward to seeing her face everyday, listening to her boss me around, when she turned thirteen she began talking to me about things other then work, she would ask me questions, she would ask me what my life was like before I came, she would ask me if I had any children since here it is customary to marry young and have kids, she asked my favorite color, my favorite books, just lots of questions about myself, sometimes she would make me sit and talk to her, and half the time she forced me to ask her questions about her, and even when I wouldn't she would answer my un-asked questions. Then it began to become more, when she was fourteen I opened up more to her, she opened up more to me, we didn't just ask questions, we talked, joked, laughed, she was the only thing that made me happy, not long after she came to me when she was upset, I would comfort her the best way I knew how, a lot of times she only wanted me to hold her till she was done crying though, and then once she came to me crying, her father, the king, had planned to marry her off with a shape shifter prince, and then had scolded her, even slapped her when she ruined it, I asked her why she refused, that was our first kiss, she kissed me, after that, she would sneak off to come to me everyday just as she had before, only now instead of talking we would kiss, I fell behind on my work, and had to finish it late into the night, but it was always worth it, and then on her fifteenth birthday, late at night, she-she sent a guard to get me, she had told them she had business to discuss with me, about switching my job, I got up there, she sent everyone from the room, and that was when we first made love, afterwards she told me she was going to help me escape, I didn't want to though, before I did, but after being with her everyday I had fallen in love with her, and I didn't want to go, she made me though, she made me leave, she said if I didn't she would kill herself for letting me stay in this hell, so I took her direction, she distracted the guards, everywhere I went on the way, and then she helped to hide me in a barrel that was leaving the kingdom it was supposed to be filled with dirty water and was being taken out, she insisted on going with the men on the job, saying wanted to see the ocean, and so they let her, we got there, when the men were by the docks she rolled the barrel behind some rocks and helped me out, she kissed me once, and then turned me away, and I haven't seen her till today." Jed finished, it was sad, Jeanne thought, she now considered herself lucky, when Phil came to her, she was going to be with him. She decided, she had spent her time running away, and ended up here, she guessed it was fate, when she was captured and ended up with Jed, realizing how lucky she was to have a soul mate who wanted her more then anything and anyone, thought she was perfect in every way shape and form, and more, and how she could be with him, but Jed was a slave who got a princess that made love to him and made him leave, never wanted to see him again, wanted to live knowing he could be happy and healthy without her, rather then sick, and beaten everyday with her, and then while he was gone began playing with another guy.

"Is she your soul mate?" Jeanne just had to ask, her voice soft for once.

"Yes. I knew that when I first touched her, but she didn't, she was to young to feel the shocks, but she was old enough to feel the love for me, we even had a small connection, but not the one that comes when both are the right age, it was only small, so she was able to move on, well, kind of, I saw her thoughts when I touched her, she knows now. And she had thought of me everyday, even when with Hunter….especially when with Hunter, she wants me." Jed said and looked down, Jeanne looked down as well, Diego and Gloria watched them both for a moment then slowly went back to work.

"Jed. I saw Hunter die when I was at the dark kingdom, I _watched _him get vaporized" Jeanne said finally, she was actually terrified of Hunter now.

"He did. The mother of all vampires ,Mya, heard he had passed, she preformed a ritual, she made the witches bind her soul to Hunter's, when one dies, the other will live. It was risky, Mya could have died herself, but she was determined, she and Hunter are good friends, share the same views, want the same thing, so as long as one lives, their goals will be completed by whoever is living, and if hunter dies again, Mya will come back" Jed said and shook his head. Then started work again.

"Can't you just _sniff _out the trail?!" Phil demanded of James when James said he couldn't pin point which track to take to Jeanne. They had found the holding cell after they followed the tire tracks to it, and now there were several trails to follow.

"Do I _look _like a dog to you Phil?" James hissed through his teeth angrily and shook his head. "You said she was taken to the Rockies, so that's where we'll go, Delos, do you know of any kingdoms in that area?" James asked turning away from Phil, Phil watched Delos intently.

"Yes. There is one, it's called Doswin, I was taken once, to meet a princess, her name was Rane, but I only went once, it was a marriage thing, she refused though, but I don't know if I know the way" he said in a diplomatic way.

"You don't need to, is it likely that that's where they took her?" James asked.

"It is Extremely likely, Doswin _always _needs new slaves, they beat and kill their slaves over the smallest things, and when a female gets pregnant they kill her, when someone gets to sick or to old to work, they are also killed, and they pay well for any kind of slaves, but they pay especially generously for good looking ones, see Doswin makes slave traders do their homework on the slaves before receiving them, they only want good looking, strong slaves, with a nice immune system, unless the human has a particularly good gift, like baking or sewing, then they take ugly ones, but it's not often, and they had probably been watching Jeanne for awhile, she's very pretty, I guess, and strong of course, still no match for a night person unless it's a witch, but strong for a young lady, and she was working for my kingdom for almost three years, I saw her almost all the time when I went to the stables to get my horse, she always looked a little healthier then over half the other slaves now that I think about it. Once we get there, I will be able to lead the way through the path to the kingdom, just get us right outside the Rockies." Delos said already heading out of the building that the holding cell was in and Phil just couldn't help himself.

"She's not just pretty Delos, she's the most beautiful and perfect woman in the world!" Phil called after him then headed out as well. Everyone else followed relatively silently, Poppy stayed right beside Phil, she took one of his hands and he turned to look at her.

"Were going to find her Phillip. It will be okay. I know it." she said, she sounded one hundred percent sure of herself and then continued on past him with James. Phil felt a little bit of relief at Poppy's reassurance, she had never been wrong once she got a feeling, guess that was part of being a witch.

They drove for several hours that day, and finally James stopped at a motel, they rented five rooms, Phil was supposed to share with Poppy, James with Ash, Rowan and Kestrel, Delos and Maggie, and of course Jez and Morgead, everyone left the cars and grabbed their bags, everyone except for Phil, he stayed in the car, Poppy tried to make him come to the motel room with her, but he refused, he wanted to be ready to go when everyone woke up, and either way he wouldn't sleep, he would just stay up worrying about Jeanne, thinking about her. Which he ended up doing in the car anyway.

He thought a lot about her, he wondered if she was okay, if she was hurt, or if she was being taken care of, he missed her so much it ached, had he really fallen in love with her so quickly? Yes. He had. And thinking of that, it reminded him of the night they spent together, the softness of her lips that managed the fiercest kiss ever made, the way her skin felt, rough but perfect, the way her scars felt under his fingers, the way her red hair shone, and felt against his face and chest, how it smelt like strawberries, the way her body moved against his, how it fit perfectly with his, as if they were made to be put together, but of course, they had, and he found himself thinking about how he made her quiver and blush with his touches and kisses, how they shared a bed for a night. It was the happiest thought he had, even though he woke up without her, it was still the best night he had ever had, the only thing that could beat it would be spending the first night of their marriage together, the first night as a married couple, he was sure Jeanne would turn him down repeatedly, but she would say yes eventually, and he was willing to keep at it until she did. He smiled at the thought, getting Jeanne to marry him, make her his wife, and himself her husband, and then he found himself thinking about their future together

In his version of what he wanted, he and Jeanne were playing in the back yard with a small house with two children, one boy who was about five with bright red curly hair, and cat green eyes, and fair skinned, and he was tall with Phil's face shape, and one little girl that had Phil's blonde hair, and Jeanne's fierce shockingly green eyes, and Jeanne's angular face, and she was about two, they were laughing and smiling, and Jeanne had a big round tummy as though the child in her stomach would pop out any second. The scene shifted, Jeanne and Phil were grey haired, and surrounded by lots of grand children, most of them blonde and red haired, but some were brunet, everyone was laughing and smiling, and having a great time, Jeanne's wedding ring shone beautiful and bright while rocking in her chair, Phil beside her, they were now outside a large white house with blue shutters and a red door and a big wrap around porch, he wasn't sure how he knew, but he knew that was Jeanne's dream house, and he would go to the ends of the earth to get it for her.

"Hunter, it's all lovely, simply splendid! But Hunter, I wonder if I might sleep alone tonight?" Rane asked the last part quietly so she wasn't over heard by anyone, Jed had said he would come to her by moon light, and for that to happen, she couldn't have Hunter there. Seeing Jed again made her remember everything they had done in the past, and when he touched her, she was finally able to pin point why she had such a strong attraction to him, he was her soul mate. She didn't love hunter, she realized, she never had, he was just a pass time, a distraction from Jed, but she couldn't let him know that.

Rane and Hunter had just made the turn to the corridor leading to her room.

"Why my darling? I would think you would _want _to spend the night together, especially with all that is going on tomorrow, we'll hardly see each other" Hunter said in a soothing voice, the one that used to bring her to her knee's, but now only angered her.

"Oh I would, but I _am _turning seventeen tomorrow, I would just like to spend my last night of sixteen alone, not for any disrespect for you, but I would only like to spend the time actually sleeping so I will prepared, it will be tiring tomorrow" Rane replied and Hunter looked reluctant but nodded, he bent and kissed her once then turned and left her. Rane pushed open the door to her room and went in; she closed the door behind her and practically ran to her wardrobe. She flung it open and searched for the most provocative thing she could find; she wanted the one night with Jed to be perfect. She pulled out a baby blue satin spaghetti strap night gown with white lace tripped around the top, she pulled her hair from the bun and began brushing her slight waves of blonde frantically, she then replaced her tiara, and started working on her make up, she only wanted Jed to see her at her absolute best, she put on her matching baby blue satin robe, and then crawled into her bed, under her covers and sat up straight and waited for Jed.

It was almost mid-night when there was a rough rap on the window. Rane instantly jumped up from her bed and hurried to the window, she pushed it open and felt the cool air of the night. She stood back and watched as Jed climbed in through the window, the moonlight shinning on him, his back was bare, and he was wearing the slave boy shorts, that's all. But he managed to look perfect in them. He closed the window behind him, and then looked at Rane, Rane tried her best to look sexy, but she thought she came off as more innocent and frightened, but Jed pulled her in his arms just the same and kissed her the same rough desperate way he used to, as though it would be their last time seeing each other, but of course living here it could be at any time.

Jed wrapped his arms tightly around Rane, and guided her to the bed, he had her pinned, and was in between her legs by the time he finally shoved himself off her. "We can't tonight princess, now is not the time." he said sitting up and watching her.

"Why on earth not? Is that not why you have come to me? I know you know what we are to the other, we are soul mates, and why have you come back?" She asked sitting up and holding his hand.

"We have things to discuss. It is not just why I came to see, I love you Rane, all I ever want to do is hold you, but now is not the time, and I came back, because I _need _you, just like you _need _me, Hunter, he does not love you, he only wants the throne, but you can not let him have it, you marry him, and things will be horrible, for the slaves, and the people in the kingdom, all he wants is power, and once he gets it, who knows what he will do to you. I have a plan though." Jed stated and Rane must have looked taken aback because he continued on to explain this plan "Okay, first, you need to kill the king, three days after you will be announced as queen, when you are announced as queen, you must send Hunter away, after that, you can change things, you can make things better, you can free the slaves, and there is this organization, it is called circle day break, you know it I know you do, we can join them, we can be together, and let me finish, when you free the slaves, take off the spells hiding the kingdom from humans, and _hire _them, give them wages, and weekends, and actual quarters, don't punish them so cruelly, you can make things better Rane, and in return, circle day break will ensure your absolute protection, and mine if you like" He finally finished. Rane sat in silence for a long time just staring at him before nodding slowly, she was not sure if it was the perfect idea, but it was what Jed wanted, and if she did do that, she could be with Jed, and he could become king and be beside her with no shame, no consequences, they could kiss whenever they wanted, and hug, and talk, and no one would say no to them, Jed should be king anyway, not hunter, and she was hardly the materiel to be a queen, people said so very often, Hunter was cold, and sinister, he frightened people, and Rane was more quiet, and introverted, she couldn't make the hard decisions, and she didn't know what she wanted out of anything in life other then wanting Jed. Jed was perfect for a ruler though, he knew what he wanted, he knew how to plan, and he wasn't afraid to speak out about what he wanted or what was right, he wanted change, and he wanted to better the lives of the people, his manner was a little rough and hard, but he meant well, the years of slavery had only coated him with ice that she would soon melt, he was perfect.

"I'll do it."

Phil was pacing. They were just outside the mansion, it had been several days, and they were now outside the mountains. "Delos, you will take me, Ash, Kestrel, Rowan, Jez, and Morgead in, you said you know the princess and that it's her birthday, so if we have any luck she will let you in, with some guests. From there we will find Jeanne, and leave." James had decided that it would be best if only the people related to Delos in some way went in, then he had decided that Morgead should come since he was one of the best at combat and packed some type of telepathic bomb. Phil was not happy about this decision, but both Delos and James had talked him into the idea that going in would only make them look suspicious, since he was still so human no one would ever even consider him a witch.

"But wait! James! What about the other slaves?! Horrible things are happening to them! We have to help them!" Maggie exclaimed and James tried to argue, but Delos was quick to team up with Maggie on the situation.

"Fine. We can sneak you, and Phil in, Poppy will be fine coming with us, but when we sneak you in, Phil get your connection with Jeanne, and find her, then talk to she and whoever is around her, then wait, we will come to you all in the night, just tell us where you are, so keep your mind open so Poppy can connect, we'll figure out a plan then. The rest of us will go into the castle, we'll get the lay out and search possible ways to get everyone out, including ourselves, safely." James decided reluctantly and kissed Poppy's cheek then started us up the mountain.

It was a long way up, and finally we got to the gates, Delos got in front of the group as a guard peeked his eyes from a hole in the gate. "Who goes there?" he asked in a deep renaissance voice.

"_King_ Delos of Black Dawn. The princess is not expecting me, but I assumed there was no better time to visit an old friend then the day she becomes a woman." Delos winked and Phil saw lines appear in the guard's eyes that could only mean he was smiling. He opened the gate and waved us through.

"My Lord, where is your horse? And who are these people?" asked the man and Delos smiled.

"We did not come by horse, we came by some amazing machinery, they call it a car, and it's very fast! And these people, this is James, Ash, Kestrel, Rowan, and Jez, my cousins, and this is Morgead, he is Jez's lover, and Poppy is marrying James soon, and these two, they are gifts for the princess, I wish to deliver them on my own, it should be quiet a fun night" Delos smirked and the Guard grinned again and waved them on.

Delos led the way to the castle. "it has changed so much, when the king was sickened, the princess must have done some major renovations, it's a lot brighter then it was, and cleaner" he stated and everyone looked around in awe, it didn't look like a dangerous kingdom, it was bright, and colorful, it looked just like something out of a renaissance fairy tale, only instead of wooden cottages there were stone cottages, but there were children laughing and playing, kites in the air, a puppet show in the square, and the castle was big and white of all colors, it didn't look a thing like what Phil imagined, especially after how Delos and Maggie described Delos's kingdom. Delos caught Phil's confused expression and smiled a little. "The princess is not like most lamia, she is very introverted, and shy, but she hates the dark, and she is not fond of cruelty, so any miss-treating of anyone here is not her doing, but like I said, she is introverted, she doesn't like to take charge, but she is kind at heart. We exchanged letters after we first met, she's my friend" Delos said and kept going, he walked up the stone steps leading to the castle doors and Phil saw a pretty, but very small girl greeting people, she had blonde hair, and a smile, with a tiara of blue sapphires and her hair was pinned back in a bun, she wore a nice long dark blue dress with a long cape, and she almost tripped over her feet and fell on her face in her hurry to greet Delos.

"DELOS! DELOS!" she called and threw herself in his arms, Phil saw Maggie stiffen beside him. "It has been much to long!" the girl exclaimed happily and pulled away, Phil saw something in her quick movement that he could only decide meant she had no interest in Delos as more then a friend, at all. "I was so sorry to hear of your father's death, but so happy to hear you were king! Though I heard your kingdom was lost" The girl said and cocked her head to the side.

"Yes, it was, there was an explosion, but not to worry, I contacted my cousins and they were happy to take me" Delos smiled at the girl as he gestured to his cousins. "How are you Princess Rane? I heard about your father, I am so sorry, but I hear the kingdom is in good hands?" Delos asked.

"That it is. _Delos." _A voice behind the girl hissed, it was a man with red hair and golden eyes said. Phil saw everyone besides himself and Poppy stiffen. The man walked up beside Rane and put an arm around her waist and pulled her closer to his side, he bent and kissed Rane's hair.

"I thought you were dead" Delos stated, glaring at Hunter.

"I was, but Mya brought me back, we bound souls, she died, and I was resurrected, I die, she comes back." he said with a horrible smile that twisted the inside of Phil.

'_Jeanne? I am here, where are you?' _Phil mentally asked Jeanne, trying to connect with her.

'_PHIL! Phil I love you. Goddess I love you, I'm sorry I ran, I see now I made the biggest mistake I could ever make, I ran from you, but I love you! And I'm in the barn.' _He heard her reply in his head and took a deep breath, taking it in, he wanted to hold onto her words forever, she said she loved him, admitted it. Hunter was watching all of them with hard eyes, Maggie tugged Phil's sleeve, and began steering him away, Phil looked around, the vampires were all headed inside, Maggie was leading Phil away, and apparently Delos or someone had said we were the princess's gifts, and she said for us to wander and she would collect us later.

"Maggie, she's at the barn." Phil said and then began to walk briskly to get to the barn even though he had no idea where it was.

"So, the plan is ready?" Jeanne asked Jed, he had told her, Diego, and Gloria about his trip to the princess's chambers. Jed nodded, he was smiling, he had been smiling ever since he came back to them, and it didn't take a rocket scientist to figure out that just having seen the princess's face made him the happiest man alive.

"All we need to do is wait, I'll go back to the princess tonight to help her kill the king, and then everything is set." Jed said, it was a simple enough plan…for her. Jed was going to have to break into the king's chambers in the middle of the night, with at least ten guards in the room, so he and the princess can kill him without arising suspicion on the princess, and then they would have to banish Hunter.

The barn door creaked open and in stepped Maggie, and behind her…Jeanne's breath caught in her throat. She flung herself across the barn and tackled Phil to the ground, she was straddling him, and she pulled Phil up by his shoulders and kissed all over his face repeatedly and then kissed him passionately on the lips. "Phil! Phil! Oh, Phil!" she murmured as she kissed and then pulled back to look at him. Phil smiled and opened his eyes and wrapped his arms around Jeanne and pulled her into a tight hug, he buried his face in her hair. "Phil I wont leave you ever again, from now on your stuck with me like a heart" Jeanne cried against his neck.

"You are my heart." was all he said, which only made Jeanne cry harder.

"Jeanne, who are these people?" Jed asked and Jeanne finally untangled herself from Phil.

"This is Phillip, he's my soul mate, he came to rescue me, and this is my best friend Maggie, she also came." Jeanne explained, it was weird admitting Maggie is her best friend, she had never expressed her feelings or relationships to anyone before, and now here she was, showing her love for Phil, and calling Maggie her best friend, but it must have been true, Maggie _did _come to save her, she didn't have to, Maggie was human, and had no ties to the situation whatsoever _and _she was human, but still here she was trying.

"Delos and the others went into the castle with the princess, they will join later, then were going to figure out a plan to bust everyone out of here." Maggie said peeking out the barn nervously.

"Don't bother. We already _have _a plan" Jed said in that condescending voice that made you want to smack him.

"You do?" Maggie asked looking completely bewildered.

"Your _not _the _only _person in the world who is smart enough to plan things out, _savior_." Jed scowled at Maggie, Maggie and Jed were both borne leaders is what it seemed like, but Maggie was willing to sacrifice her life to keep _everyone _safe, Jed was willing to do whatever it took to keep as many people _alive _as he could and still save his own ass, everyone that died in the process to him was '_the needs of the many out weigh the needs of the one' _kind of thinking, which made perfect sense to Jeanne, but that was probably what just about everyone who spent more then a few days of slavery came to realize, but because of those two different mind sets, Maggie and Jed would be bickering like cats and dogs.

Maggie shrugged his insult off "Well, what is it?"

"Well, _I _will be sneaking to the outside window of the kings chambers and wait for the princess to come into his room, _she _will come to send the guards away to spend some alone time with her dad, she will let me in the window, and I will kill the king, then it's a waiting game, two days after the kings death they will hold a burial ceremony, then on the third day the princess will be made queen, she will banish Hunter, and free the slaves, she's going to take off the spells on the kingdom so humans can find it, any slaves that want to stay can, but they will be given real homes, and wages, and treated equally, and any humans in need of work or a new start, or just want a new life are welcome to come work here, also for wages, the kingdom will _only _be seen by humans who want a new life, and of course the night people." Jed explained and Maggie looked shocked.

"How do you know the princess wont go back on her word? And even if she _is _kind enough to do this, she would really kill her father?" Maggie questioned Jed looking suspicious.

"Don't you _ever _accuse the princess of having false heart, or I will personally end you, and she is kind enough, but she also understands the needs of the many out weigh the needs of the one, so _she _wont kill her father, I'm going to do it _for _her, then I'm going to jump out his window, climb down the wall, and come back here, she's going to scream and say he died, wood poisoning finally caught up to him, he's been dying for some time now, so it's very plausible." Jed said glaring at Maggie, he really didn't seem to like her much.

"How do you know she's going to help though? When did you find time to convince the princess to do this without her trying to kill you?" Maggie continued to question him, she seemed very suspicious.

"She's my soul mate, I snuck into her bed chambers after dark." Jed said and leaned back. Diego and Gloria, who had been silent this whole time finally spoke, or well, Gloria did.

"Do you have a way to tell your friends our plan? They could help, they could cause a diversion so the guards _really _wont be paying attention when Jed kills the king, like a big commotion, then, when the king dies, the princess can scream and say the commotion startled the king, and the last of his strength left him because he got so worked up over it, _and _it would be much easier on the princess, I mean to have people looking out for her, you know, in case Hunter starts getting suspicious, he wont be entirely focused on Princess Rane, if she's always with your friends, then Hunter wont be able to watch her to closely with them pestering him and Rane all the time, and Hunter _never _beds with the princess when there are visitors, oh and if any of your friends are girls then they can have sleep over's in the princess's chambers, so Hunter really wont be able to corner her! All they have to do is stick around her and any time she slips or stumbles or something your friends can cover her." Gloria said and we all looked at her, Gloria never said a lot, and Jeanne had begun to think she was incapable of planning.

"Gloria, that's brilliant" Diego smiled and looked at Maggie, Jeanne, and Jed for conformation, they all nodded quickly, it really was a good plan.

"Perfect, I can contact Delos, and tell him, Jed, this needs to be done as soon as possible, you have to do this tonight." Maggie decided, Jed agreed.


End file.
